Annual reports for England and Wales for 2022 from the Drinking Water Inspectorate both showed that 99.97% of water supply quality tests were compliant with standards.

Coliforms were responsible for the largest proportion of breaches in each country.

The reports show that:

• Drinking water is, and continues to be, excellent by international standards. Public water supply compliance with the drinking water regulations has been consistently high for a number of years, with a rate of 99.97% in 2022. This compares to compliance rates of between 98-98.5% in the early 1990s, when water companies were privatised.
• The UK is one of only six nations in the world with infrastructure considered to be sufficient to maintain public health and without an associated disease burden.
• The DWI stresses there is no room for complacency, as the impacts of climate change, resource availability and emerging parameters will make treating water abstracted from our environment more difficult. A particular concern is PFAS, with 3.8% of analyses showing PFAS in raw water above the limit of detection.
• Other concerns are endocrine disruptors, pharmaceuticals, microplastics and increasing use of nickel, as well as the known impacts of legacy lead pipework in buildings and use of lead solder.