The special `From Source to Tap’ tours took place on 13th and 14th May 2016 at Sutton and East Surrey Water’s Bough Beech Water Treatment Works, near Edenbridge in Kent.
They revealed the complex engineering and scientific processes that are used to pump water from the River Eden into Bough Beech Reservoir, then into the water treatment works for processing and onward to customers’ taps.
First to go behind the scenes were 30 stakeholders from parish and borough councils, local businesses, residents’ associations and community groups.
They were followed by 70 customers who had pre-booked their places on the special open day tours.
Bough Beech Water Treatment Works cleans and processes up to 55 million litres of water a day for around 100,000 customers in the area.
Leading the tours was Sutton and East Surrey Water’s Managing Director, Anthony Ferrar who said: “People are often surprised at just how complex our work is to turn river water into clean, safe tap water.
“It’s great to take people behind the scenes and show them what we do – and not least so they can see where their water bill is being spent – as we are immensely proud of the high quality drinking water we produce 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”