A WATER company with treatment works in Oswestry that serve the Merseyside and Cheshire areas has vowed to clean up after 'naturally-occurring' minerals were found.

United Utilities (UU) operates the Oswestry Water Treatment Works (WTW) in Broomhall Lane, taking raw water from Lake Vyrnwy, near Llanfyllin, and delivering it to customers in Liverpool, Wirral and Cheshire.

According to a government notice issued last month, a report was submitted by UU to the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) in 2019 which flagged up that 'there is or has been a significant risk of supplying water from Oswestry WTW that could constitute a potential danger to human health'.

The report stated that risks associated were iron, magnesium, turbidity, Cryptosporidium – which causes diarrhoea – and E.coli.

But a spokesman said that UU is taking action to ensure they are minimised.

They said: "Water from Oswestry treatment works serves customers in Merseyside and Cheshire via the Vyrnwy aqueduct.

"We do provide a small emergency backup supply to Severn Trent Water to help protect customer supplies in the Oswestry and Hindford areas in the rare event that they require this.

“Water quality is our number one priority and we always take action if risks are identified as part of our regular monitoring and regulatory reporting regime.

"We are committed to a programme of investment that will see us improve our processes at Oswestry treatment works and carry out maintenance on sections of the Vyrnwy aqueduct to preserve the high quality drinking water that we supply to customers in future.

“A small number of customers have experienced minor discolouration to their water due to very low levels of iron and manganese in their supply.

"These naturally-occurring minerals are found in a build-up of deposits on the pipe walls which form over several years from the water running through them.

"These minerals don’t pose any health risks but can result in discolouration of the water if disturbed, and this is why we are carrying out improvement works.”

The DWI has set out a timeframe of measures that need to be satisfied, with three ongoing conditions placed on the company – optimising ongoing treatment processes to reduce risks from geosmin (which produces an odour), iron and manganese, continue raw water monitoring of geosmin and also for Cryptosporidium.

By July 31, 2024, UU must have removed manganese as well as other procedural issues such as waste facilities for inadequately treated-water.

However, UU will still be able to supply water to the regions through the period and will be expected to hit all targets by August 2025.