The South West of England includes the counties of Bristol, Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire. So are these areas primarily supplied by hard or soft water? Let’s take a look!
What is the scale of hardness?
We can categorise water hardness into 3 different groups, the ppm stands for parts per million and refers to the amount of calcium carbonate and magnesium present in the water:
Soft to moderately soft water – 1 -100ppm
Medium to moderately hard water- 100-200ppm
Hard to very hard water – Over 200 ppm
Water is hard when it runs through or sits in areas with high mineral content. Water taken from certain sources is much more likely to be hard. Groundwater sources such as underground aquifers are a prime example of a hard water source.
Does Bristol have hard water?
Bristol has hard to very hard water and is supplied by Albion Water, Bristol Water and Severn Trent Water and Wessex Water.
Does Cornwall have hard water?
The water in Cornwall is classed mostly from soft to moderately soft. Cornwall is supplied by South West Water.
Does Dorset have hard water?
Water in Dorset is classed as hard to very hard. The water here is mostly supplied by two water companies South West Water and Wessex Water.
Does Devon have hard water
Devon has soft to moderately soft water and is supplied by South West Water.
Does Gloucestershire have hard water
Water in Gloucestershire is classed as hard to very hard. It is supplied by Albion Water and Dwr Cymru and Wessex Water.
Does Somerset have hard water?
Somerset has soft to moderately soft water and is supplied by South West Water and Wessex Water .
Does Wiltshire have hard water?
Wiltshire has hard to very hard water and is supplied by Cholderton & District Water and Wessex Water .
Which Water suppliers are active in this region?
There are 7 different water suppliers across the South West England region. We’ll take a quick look at each of them and where they source their water from.
Albion Water: Albion Water supplies its water from other regional companies as such the sources of its water are varied. However most of the suppliers associated with Albion use river water and Groundwater.
Bristol Water: Bristol Water is split 50-50. With half of the water being sourced from reservoirs in areas such as the Mendips and the other half being sourced from the River Severn.
Cholderton & District Water: Cholderton & District Water is taken from groundwater sources.
Dwr Cymru (Welsh Water): 95% of Dwr Cymru’s water comes from surface water, primarily reservoirs and river abstractions.
South West Water: South West Water sources 90% of its water from surface water sources such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs, the final 10% comes from groundwater sources
Wessex Water: 80% of Wessex Water’s supply comes from underground aquifers with the rest coming from surface reservoirs.
Final Thoughts
The South West of England has water of varying hardness, with areas such as Cornwall being almost entirely soft and Wilthsire having mostly hard water. In areas such as Gloucestershire most of the water is likely to be hard but there will be areas also supplied by soft water and vice versa in Somerset. Much of the water in these areas is supplied by surface water rather than groundwater aquifers. If you are moving to the South West or already live there and are having problems with limescale you may want to look into a way to treat your water.
