Tap Water in West MidlandsNo PFAS notice

The West Midlands conurbation — Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, and surrounding areas — is served primarily by Severn Trent Water, with South Staffordshire Water covering Wolverhampton and parts of Staffordshire and Worcestershire. The region has one of the most remarkable water supply histories in the UK, centred on Birmingham's extraordinary 100-mile aqueduct from the Elan Valley in mid-Wales.

Birmingham's water originates from Welsh mountain reservoirs built between 1893 and 1952 in the Elan Valley, Claerwen, and Rhayader area of Powys. This upland Welsh water is naturally very soft — typically below 30–50 mg/L CaCO₃ — because the moorland and granite geology of the Welsh mountains contains very little calcium. As a result, Birmingham has unusually soft water for such a large English city, and residents benefit from minimal limescale on appliances. Coventry, supplied from the Derwent Valley, has similarly soft water.

Fluoride in the West Midlands

The West Midlands is one of the few regions in the UK where fluoride is artificially added to the water supply. Severn Trent fluoridates water in parts of the West Midlands at approximately 1.0 mg/L, aiming to reduce dental decay in the population. This practice has been in place since the 1960s. Fluoride is added within strict limits (legal maximum 1.5 mg/L) and is monitored continuously. If you wish to remove fluoride from your drinking water, only reverse osmosis or activated alumina filters are effective — standard carbon filters do not remove fluoride.

Water quality in the West Midlands

Overall water quality in the West Midlands is good. Severn Trent consistently achieves compliance rates above 99.9% for most regulated parameters. The soft water is gentle on appliances and plumbing. PFAS monitoring is ongoing as part of Severn Trent's improvement programme, but the West Midlands is generally less affected by PFAS than eastern England or the South East.