Portsmouth Water boss reassures residents that Bognor Regis drinking water is safe

Portsmouth Water CEO Bob Taylor spoke out after residents in Bognor Regis raised concerns about nitrate levels in the local drinking water supply, reassuring customers that local water sources are well within safe limits.

"We’ve taken literally hundreds of thousands of samples in the Bognor Regis area and we have never once failed the nitrate level, ever,” he explained.

"We are very very highly regulated. Not only do we take samples at our customer’s taps, but in addition to that we take samples at our production sites where the water comes from, from our treated water storage reservoirs and also within the network. There’s a very very strong regime in place."

The news comes after a Bognor Regis family tested their water supply with commercially available paper strips and posted their findings on social media. One member of the family, who asked to remain anonymous, said they decided to test because they felt ill in the week after they had a new virgin water filter fitted, and claim their nitrate levels were high. Concerned, they gave approximately 20 paper strips to neighbours and friends, with each result returning more than 100mgs of nitrate per litre of drinking water. Unsafe levels of nitrate in drinking water have been linked to health issues in unborn babies and children less than six months old and some links have been drawn between consumption of nitrates and cancer risk in people of all ages. The current UK drinking water standard for nitrates is 50mg/L.

Portsmouth Water is the company responsible for supplying drinking water to the Bognor Regis area, and a spokesperson claimed the paper tests used to conduct at-home samples are often unreliable, especially compared to the official tests taking place in their ‘state of the art’ facilities.

Shortly after residents raised their concerns, officials took two samples of their own from the Bognor Regis drinking water supply and found that nitrate levels were lower than commercial paper strips had originally suggested, sitting at 37mg and 36mg respectively. The current UK drinking water standard for nitrates is 50mg/L.

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