Floods of calls over colour of tap water

Thousands of people in Midlands complained about their drinking water turning murky last year, new figures show.

More than 8,800 homeowners in the region flooded the telephone lines of water companies to complain about discoloured water pouring from their taps.

It works out as one in every thousand people in the region. A report by the Drinking Inspectorate details a number of incidents involving water quality in the region over the last year including discoloured water in Stafford area in May 2009.

Hot weather was blamed but Severn Trent cleaned its Satnall service reservoir in Staffordshire to try and stop it happening again.

In a separate complaint detailed in the report, low traces of E.Coli was detected in samples in June and October last year from South Staffordshire Water's Hampton Loade Works, near Bridgnorth.

It was detected in the treated water that the company abstracts from the River Severn and the firm was asked to increase monitoring levels as a result. Since then they have been clear.

The document, penned by the chief inspector of drinking water Jeni Colbourne, reads: "The inspectorate considers that South Staffordshire Water and Severn Trent Water could be doing more to address discolouration and chlorine taste issues through their distribution operation and maintenance strategies."

But, despite complaints about murky water, the report found that the overall quality of drinking water in the central region was good with the figure for compliance with drinking water standards at consumers' taps at 99.97 per cent.

Dr Mike Turrell, director of water quality at South Staffs Water, said: "Overall the drinking water quality for South Staffs Water remains one of the best in the industry.

"For the second year running the company has achieved a water quality compliance rate of greater than 99.99per cent. Such a good rate places the company third out of 22 companies."

He added that the company would work harder on maintaining its pipework system that is up to 100-years-old to avoid complaints about discoloured water caused by rust particles.

Severn Trent spokeswoman Grace Marren added that the issue with discoloured water in the Stafford area didn't pose a risk to health.

"Our aim is to always maintain high quality water to customers and achieve regulatory targets," she said.