The Drinking Water Quality Regulator’s latest report described the quality of Scotland’s tap water as “impressive”.
However, the report also raised concerns about the number of incidents where customers received discoloured water and said that Scottish Water “needs to do more” to prevent this.
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David Reynolds, the Drinking Water Quality Regulator, said: “Our drinking water in Scotland is amongst the finest in the world, however we need to invest to ensure this remains true. Scottish Water is managing a number of risks, and I would like to see these greatly reduced by ensuring assets fail-safe when things go wrong.
“Consumers expect their tap water to look and taste good. I am disappointed in the number of incidents where consumers received discoloured water and Scottish Water needs to do more to prevent these situations.”
The report, which looks at Scottish Water’s performance in 2024, said there were 156,814 tests carried out from samples from customers’ taps last year and that 99.92% of these met required standards.
Just 23 out of 62,352 tests on samples of water leaving water treatment works failed to meet standards, which was a slight performance decline on 2023.
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Scottish Water last year received 16,779 complaints about water quality, mostly from people concerned about discoloured water.
There were 34 water quality incidents last year which required a detailed investigation by the regulator, up on 29 in 2023, which Reynolds said was too high.
According to the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the regulator for England and Wales’s privatised water networks, the quality of drinking water in 2023 – the most recent available figure – was 99.97% compliance with standards.
