19 July 2006

WATER QUALITY CONTINUES TO IMPROVE

Regional Development Minister, David Cairns, welcomed the achievement of 99.19% compliance for water quality levels against regulatory standards for 2005.

The results were published in the 2005 Drinking Water Quality Report, which indicates an improvement from 98.63%, against the same period in 2004. During this period 114,858 tests were conducted on Water Service's supplies.

The Minister said: "The Government has an ambitious programme of investment and reform for our water and sewage services, so I'm delighted to announce that the quality of our water is getting better as a result of the investment that we have already put in. In the last year alone we invested £23million in treatment works which has helped us meet our target of 99% compliance with regulatory requirements. But we can do better, so we will be spending around £190 million over the next three years to make sure that the quality of our water here in Northern Ireland is as good as, if not better, than anywhere else in the UK."

NOTES TO EDITORS:

The statutory report, which is required under the Water Supply (Water Quality) Regulations (NI) 2002, provides a summary of the quality of water supplied by Water Service during the period 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2005.

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