Sir Gerald Howarth, MP for Aldershot, has officially opened South East Water’s Scientific Services new water testing laboratory in Southwood, Farnborough.

Starting out as an empty warehouse, the 30,000 square foot location has been transformed into a state-of-the-art facility where the water company’s scientists will carry out more than 700,000 tests each year.

Dr Neil Hudson, Head of Water Quality at South East Water, said:

“Moving a laboratory is no easy task and I am proud of our employees and the hard work they put in to maintaining a first class water testing service while relocating from our old base in Frimley Green.”

“Our services are highly regulated and a recent visit from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service found we had improved our analytical excellence despite the upheaval to new premises.”

Sir Gerald Howarth, MP for Aldershot, said:

 “I am delighted that South East Water has relocated this important facility to Farnborough. The public tends to think that all the water companies do is collect the rainwater and pump it into our homes.

“This testing facility illustrates the huge professional effort invested in providing South East Water’s 2.1 million customers, of which I am one, with 540,000 litres of water every day involving a network of nearly 14,500 kilometres of pipe.

Around 70 scientists and support staff at Farnborough monitor the supply 24/7 to ensure customers receive the highest quality tap water, free form contamination or harmful particles.

 Water samples are collected by the water company each day from people’s homes as well as supply sites such as treatment works, boreholes and reservoirs. The new laboratory will be open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, carrying out tests on thes samples.

The laboratory also supports a wide range of businesses including other water companies, blue chip firms, environmental health organisations, private water suppliers and building maintenance companies offering analytical services to suit their individual requirements.