- Drinking Water 2024 – Summary of the Chief Inspector’s report for drinking water in England
- Foreword
- Water supplies and testing
- Compliance with water quality standards
- Water quality events
- Asset health and service reservoir integrity
- Consumer contacts
- Water safety planning and risk assessment
- Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
- Audit programme completed by the Inspectorate
- Enforcement, transformation and recommendations
- Lead in water
- Materials in contact with drinking water (Regulation 31)
- Security and Emergencies (SEMD)
- Network Information systems (NIS)
- Research publications
- Raw water data
- Whistleblowers
- Working with stakeholders
- Annex A – Number of tests carried out by companies
- Annex B – Compliance with standards
- Annex C – Compliance failures and events
Foreword
Dedication
The Chief Inspectors Report 2024 is dedicated to the memory of Suzanne Calmels. Suzanne passed away in April 2025 after working for the DWI for more than 20 years. Her incredible organisational skills and attention to detail has benefitted water quality in England and Wales for millions of people.
The provision of clean drinking water is fundamental to the health and wellbeing of society and economic prosperity, and access to clean water is a basic human right recognised by the United Nations. The advances in water safety planning and systems management underpinned by robust water quality regulation provide some of the best drinking water in the world. Drinking water quality in England remains excellent, with public supplies consistently meeting the stringent regulatory standards for drinking water. Compliance with the standards in 2024 was 99.97%, although the challenge remains to achieve 100% compliance with the regulatory standards.
Drinking water supplies in England are protected by water safety planning which provides a robust multi-barrier approach. In this process, risks are identified from source to tap, and mitigation put in place to address the risks before there is any deterioration or impact on consumers. The quality of supplies is further verified through extensive random sampling. Occasionally things go wrong, and when this occurs, the Inspectorate investigates, assesses compliance breaches and events, and takes enforcement action to prevent recurrence. Summary details of the regulatory activity carried out by the Inspectorate during 2024 are presented in this report, and further details of company improvement programmes are published on the Inspectorate’s website.
Our water supply system is under pressure from a range of different threats, and these are made more urgent by climate change and population growth. In January, I made recommendations to Ministers for updates to our regulations including drinking water quality, sufficiency, and alternative sources such as recycling.
The recommendations for drinking water have formed the basis of guidance to water companies, with the ultimate objective to update the regulations to meet modern standards of quality. This will enable consumers to remain confident in the quality of their drinking water, and that they are protected from exposure to contaminants.
Resilience of supplies, security, sufficiency in times of drought, and safe water recycling schemes and new and new and innovative treatment processes to secure continuous supplies which all users can have confidence in. This purposeful strategy sets the foundation of delivering guidance based upon expert evidence for which future regulation may be delivered.
Nevertheless, legacy issues such as lead pipes and nickel in domestic dwellings, PFAS and other environmental threats as well as our infrastructure, security and operational technology are critical issues which need to be addressed. The Inspectorate has worked closely with OFWAT through the five-yearly price review to ensure there is adequate investment in these areas, but much remains to be done to improve asset health and resilience.
The government has launched an independent commission into the water industry, to reset the relationship between consumers, water companies, and the environment. This is an opportunity to think ahead and develop sustainable solutions which will meet the challenges facing the sector. I welcome this review and look forward to working with renewed energy and purpose to protect and improve drinking water supplies today and for future generations.
Marcus Rink
Chief Inspector of Drinking Water
Introduction
Drinking Water 2024 is the annual publication of the Chief Inspector of Drinking Water for England and Wales. It is the 35th report of the work of the Inspectorate and presents the summary information about drinking water quality for the calendar year of 2024. It is published as a series of four quarterly reports and a final summary report, which covers public water supplies, and a single report, which covers private water supplies. This report is the summary of public water supplies for England. The industry dashboard for England 2024 is shown in summary below:
Figure 2 and table 1 – Industry overview
