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      Raw borehole water failing 9 UK drinking water limits, with no mains to fall back on.

      Farm borehole, Isle of Coll, Inner Hebrides

      Discoloured raw water filling a jerrycan from the farm supply pipe
      Brown, salty borehole water

      The farm’s raw supply, filling a jerrycan straight from the pipe.

      Key numbers

      Lead: over 5 times the UK limit, now below detection

      53.1 to <1.1 µg/l. The UK limit is 10

      Sodium: 635.5 to 1.7

      mg/l, borehole water to treated water. The UK limit is 200

      Iron: 1,210 to <6

      µg/l. The UK limit is 200

      9 of 9

      Every UK limit the borehole failed was met after treatment

      A farm on the Isle of Coll, in the Inner Hebrides, has no mains water. Its private borehole failed nine UK drinking water limits at once, so the farm’s drinking water came from trips to the village tap.

      We installed a WaterOne in the farm barn. On 31 August 2023 we sampled the borehole water and the treated water at the same time. Scottish Water Scientific Services, a UKAS-accredited laboratory, analysed both.

      Salt, metals and colour together make this the hardest real source in our test programme. Defence and remote sites face the same mix, often with no chance to analyse the water first.

      The problem

      Private water supply intake chamber on Hebridean moorland
      Nine UK limits failed at once

      The borehole water carried lead, antimony, iron and manganese above UK limits, was stained brown (colour 98) and alkaline (pH 9.6). Lead alone was more than five times the limit.

      Conventional treatment needs a separate stage for each of these problems.

      Close-up of orange-brown untreated private water supply in a jerrycan
      Sea salt in the borehole

      Sea water reaches the borehole. Sodium was more than three times the UK limit and chloride seven times, too salty to drink.

      Jerrycan of discoloured raw water at a farm steading in the Hebrides
      No mains, so trips to the village tap

      Coll has no mains water outside its village. Safe drinking water meant carrying it home from the village tap.

      What we did

      WaterOne in the farm barn doorway with the Hebridean landscape beyond
      One WaterOne, in the farm barn

      We installed a single WaterOne in the barn, on the borehole supply. It treats the salt, metals and colour in one step.

      Desalination, built into one unit

      The WaterOne uses Vapour Compression Distillation, the process used in desalination plants that supply drinking water around the world, built into one unit. As the water evaporates, salt, metals and colour stay behind.

      Same-day testing by a UKAS-accredited laboratory

      At 3 pm on 31 August 2023 we sampled the borehole water and the treated water at the same time. Scottish Water Scientific Services tested 23 parameters.

      The results

      Every UK limit the borehole failed, met after treatment.

      Borehole water → treated water

      53.1 → <1.1

      Lead, µg/l. UK limit 10

      31.8 → 1.3

      Antimony, µg/l. UK limit 5

      1,210 → <6

      Iron, µg/l. UK limit 200

      92.7 → <2.0

      Manganese, µg/l. UK limit 50

      635.5 → 1.7

      Sodium, mg/l. UK limit 200

      1,756 → <2

      Chloride, mg/l. UK limit 250

      98 → <2

      Colour, mg/l Pt/Co. UK limit 20

      9.6 → 7.3

      pH. UK range 6.5 to 9.5

      5,560 → 19

      Conductivity, µS/cm at 20°C. UK limit 2,500

      14.7 → 0.5

      Total organic carbon, mg/l. No limit set

      Ten of the 23 parameters tested. If Water took both samples at the farm at 3 pm on 31 August 2023, and Scottish Water Scientific Services, a UKAS-accredited laboratory, analysed them. The borehole water’s conductivity was above the range of the laboratory’s method, so that value is indicative. Microbiology was not tested. The results apply to the parameters measured.

      Why this matters beyond one farm

      Salt, metals and colour normally need different treatment stages, chosen after the water has been analysed. Distillation handled them all together, which is what a unit sent to an unknown source has to do.

      Do you need to treat challenging water sources?

      Tell us where your water comes from and what you need it for. We will tell you whether a WaterOne can treat it.

      Prefer to talk? Book a call

      sales@if-water.com