Bristol Water supplies 300 million litres of drinking water to over 1 million customers in a 1000 square miles (2,590 km²) area centred on Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is regulated under the Water Industry Act 1991

Water Industry Act 1991

The Water Industry Act 1991 is an Act of the United Kingdom Parliament consolidating previous enactments relating to the water supply and the provision of wastewater services in England and Wales. It further implemented recommendations of the Law Commission.-Sections:Part 1 deals with the...

Approximately half the water is taken from the Mendip Hills

Mendip Hills

The Mendip Hills is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running east to west between Weston-super-Mare and Frome, the hills overlook the Somerset Levels to the south and the Avon Valley to the north...

, particularly Chew Valley Lake

Chew Valley Lake

Chew Valley Lake is a large reservoir in the Chew Valley, Somerset, England, and the fifth-largest artificial lake in the United Kingdom , with an area of 1,200 acres...

, Blagdon Lake

Blagdon Lake

Blagdon Lake lies in the Chew Valley at the northern edge of the Mendip Hills, approximately 10 mi south of Bristol, England. The lake was created by Bristol Water , when it dammed the River Yeo, starting construction in 1891 and completing this in 1899...

 and Cheddar Reservoir

Cheddar Reservoir

Cheddar Reservoir is an artificial reservoir in Somerset, England, operated by Bristol Water. Dating from the 1930s it has a capacity of 135 million gallons . The reservoir is supplied with water taken from the Cheddar Yeo river in Cheddar Gorge...

, with the other half is piped from the River Severn

River Severn

The River Severn is the longest river in Great Britain, at about , but the second longest on the British Isles, behind the River Shannon. It rises at an altitude of on Plynlimon, Ceredigion near Llanidloes, Powys, in the Cambrian Mountains of mid Wales...

 via the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal

Gloucester and Sharpness Canal

The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal or Gloucester and Berkeley Canal is a canal in the west of England, between Gloucester and Sharpness; for much of its length it runs close to the tidal River Severn, but cuts off a significant loop in the river, at a once-dangerous bend near Arlingham...

. There are 6382 km (3,966 mi) of local water mains. Sewerage services in the Bristol area are provided by Wessex Water

Wessex Water

Wessex Water Services Limited, known as Wessex Water, is a water supply and sewerage utility company serving an area of the south west of England, covering 10,000 square kilometres including Dorset, Somerset, Bristol, most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire...

.

The company was formerly known as Bristol Waterworks Company, which was formed on 16 July 1846 by an Act of Parliament and is now part of the Spanish Grupo Agbar

Grupo Agbar

Agbar is a Spanish company dedicated to services, distribution or treatment of water. The company was founded in 1867 in Liège as Compagnie des Eaux de Barcelone by an investor from France and Catalonia . The group is present in almost all the continents as North America, South America, Asia and...

.