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You Need to Know Water All you need to know wessexwater.co.uk 1 Contents Here to help you] We’re one of the leading drinking water We aim to do this by: Here to help you 1 and sewerage companies in England • encouraging and enabling our Water sources 2 and Wales and water is a precious customers to use water wisely resource for us. Water environment 2 • controlling leakage So we’re committed to providing you • protecting our water sources from Water treatment 3 with the best quality drinking water pollution, especially nitrates. Our water network 4 and giving you the highest levels of customer service and environmental Although water is one of the world’s Pipework responsibility 5 performance that we can. natural resources and falls quite literally out of the sky, the job of collecting it Water supply interruptions 6 And we’re determined to meet future and making it clean and safe to drink demands for water without restrictions, Water pressure 7 isn’t a simple matter. without harming the environment and Water quality 8 whatever extreme weather we face in So we’ve put together this booklet to the future. give you some idea of what goes into Water leakage 9 getting drinking water from its source Water resources for the future 10 to the taps in your home. What you can do 11 Cold weather advice 12 Important information 12 Stroud Cotswold How we can help 13 South Gloucestershire Contact us Back cover Bristol Wessex Water Chippenham North Somerset Bath BANES Devizes Weston-super-Mare Trowbridge Wiltshire Sedgemoor Mendip Warminster West Bridgwater Somerset Salisbury Taunton Taunton Yeovil South Somerset North Dorset East New Forest West Dorset Dorset Dorchester Poole Key Christchurch Purbeck Bournemouth Water supply and sewerage services area Sewerage services only Weymouth Weymouth and Portland Water supply services only 1 Water sources Water treatment Borehole Reservoir Depending on where you Water We simply inject it with a Borehole 1 Filtration live, your water supply discharge solution of chlorine gas may come from deep to kill off any bacteria The most common ways to treat water are coagulation, followed by dissolved air flotation, underground in Wiltshire and in some cases aerate 1 and Dorset – around 80% it to replace carbon and/or sand filtration. of our water comes from dioxide with oxygen. With both methods the water arriving at a there. If your water doesn’t treatment works flows through fine filters to 2 This underground water, come from these remove algae, insects and any other objects. in natural reservoirs called groundwater sources, Water table 2 Coagulation aquifers, originally fell as it will come from our A small amount of chemical coagulant is put into rain, snow or hail before surface water reservoirs 3 the water to help bind any impurities so that seeping through rocks such fed by streams and they stick together and can be trapped on the as chalk, limestone and rivers. These are mostly filters, which are cleaned regularly. sandstone. located in hilly areas in Pump Water 3 We mostly pump this bearing Somerset. Dissolved air flotation water to the surface using rock Reservoir water needs a After coagulation water is fed into a chamber (aquifer) 4 boreholes which are sunk higher level of treatment and air is forced through it, pushing the up to 120 metres into the than groundwater and particles to the surface where they are rocks but some will rise we use a number of removed. naturally in springs. We then treat it and different treatment processes to purify 4 Sand filtration supply it your home. it to the high quality required by law. We 5 take you through these processes on Water flows on to fine sand filter beds trapping Water from aquifers usually has fewer any leftover particles. At some treatment works impurities so needs less treatment. the page opposite. other filters, for instance carbon 5 , are used for further cleaning, and if necessary alkali such 6 as lime is added to stabilise the water. 6 Disinfection Water environment Finally, we treat the filtered water with Abstraction licences granted by the Doing this reduces the effect of our ultraviolet and/or chlorine to kill any germs. Environment Agency make sure that public water supply abstractions on our water supply operations don’t harm local watercourses. Chlorine the environment. There are a further 20 sources where Our licences state the maximum we reduce our abstraction rate for We are legally required to disinfect water so we add a dose of chlorine during amount of water we can take from the public supply when the river flow falls the treatment process to make sure it’s safe to drink. environment each day and each year, below a certain level, helping to reduce Most people don’t notice a taste or smell of chlorine in water but if you are and in some cases link abstraction rates our impact on the environment. particularly sensitive you might notice it. to water levels in local watercourses. We continue to work with the You can remove the taste safely by using a water filter – just make sure you We operate 19 stream supports Environment Agency and Natural follow the manufacturer’s instructions on cleaning and maintenance. where we pump water from an England to review where more could be Or you can chill tap water in the fridge to reduce the chlorine taste or smell. If underground aquifer and discharge it done to protect the environment. you do this, or filter water, keep it covered in the fridge and remember to drink into a watercourse to keep flows in the it soon as it won’t stay fresh for long. streams at set levels through the year. 2 3 Our water network Pipework responsibility The water that comes out of your taps It leaves service reservoirs through Our pipework you do not own the land the pipe runs has travelled through our extensive trunk mains – large diameter pipes that We’re generally responsible for water through. network of water mains which covers carry substantial amounts of water mains and the pipes supplying your The pipework and plumbing inside much of the south west. around the area quickly. water between the main and the your home (marked ‘Your pipework We move this water around to make Most of our mains are between 300mm boundary of the street and your and fittings’ on the diagram), including sure you always have a supply and that and 500mm in diameter, although some property. We continuously look for appliances, are also your responsibility. leaks,but if you spot one please let us we can meet demand across our region. may be as big as 800mm. We’ll help you look after your private know. The treated water is held in storage From the trunk mains water flows supply pipe up to the outside wall of tanks called service reservoirs which into smaller pipes, called distribution Your pipework your house but you’ll have to contact a are usually hidden underground – or mains, which become steadily The pipework between our service pipe plumber, or your landlord, if you think occasionally in water towers. smaller. Attached to these are service and your house (coloured yellow on the you have a leak inside your house Water is usually pumped up to the connections – these are the narrow diagram below) is your private supply on your plumbing or appliances – reservoirs and then flows from service pipes that carry water into individual pipe. This is your responsibility even if unfortunately we can’t do this for you. reservoirs to customers’ homes by homes. gravity, although sometimes it has to be Our pipework pumped to make sure it reaches every property. We maintain it and x leaks as quickly as we can. Your pipework Your responsibility, but we’ll help you look Service after it. reservoir Your pipework and fittings High lift Your responsibility, and pump you’ll need to contact a plumber if you have any problems with them. Fact file • We treat and supply 330 million litres of water a day. That’s enough water to fill924 Olympic swimming pools every week! Internal Service pipe stop tap External • We supply 1.3 million customers across the south west of stop tap England including Dorset, Somerset, and most of Wiltshire. Street boundary Water main 4 5 Shared pipework information see the Water leakage Sometimes two or more properties section on page 9. Water pressure share a service pipe, in which case they If you don’t know where your share joint ownership of the pipe. responsibility begins and ends then visit Water pressure is the force that We measure wessexwater.co.uk/pipework or call pushes water through pipes and water pressure If you share pipework, the responsibility determines the flow of water from 0345 600 4 600 (Monday to Friday, 8am in ‘bars’ – one for maintenance and leak repairs lies your tap. with all the pipe owners. We can usually to 6pm) and we’ll be able to help you. bar is the force The amount of pressure at your repair leaks free of charge and this needed to raise applies to shared supplies. For further property can depend on: water through • the height above your home of the service reservoir or water pipes to a height tower providing your supply. (or ‘head’) of Need a plumber? Properties at the top of a hill may 10 metres. receive lower pressure than those To find your nearest plumber visit the WaterSafe at the bottom of the hill website at www.watersafe.org.uk or call This should be powerful enough to 0333 207 9030 (Monday to Thursday, • how much water other customers fill a one-gallon (4.5 litre) container 8.30am to 5pm; Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm).
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