Summary
The UK’s tap water safety is at risk due to the closure of all domestic laboratories certified to test water treatment products under EU-derived Regulation 31.
Without certified labs, new products cannot be approved, and existing ones requiring retesting are becoming non-compliant.
Industry insiders blame Brexit, as EU countries will share lab capacity starting in 2026, while UK rules prohibit foreign testing.
This has created a backlog of products, limited market competition, and raised costs. While officials claim water remains safe, experts warn of delays in adopting innovative treatments.
12 Comments
Worx@lemmynsfw.com · 35 pts · 1y
I don't give a fuck, because at least we can now control our passport colour. That's worth any amount of risk
Aux@sh.itjust.works · -17 pts · 1y
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 1y
Yeah, well if you didn't want the "Pakis" there, maybe Britain shouldn't have invaded and ruled their country for centuries first.
Turnabout seems like fair play to me.
towerful@programming.dev · 18 pts · 1y
Scottish tap water is a public/government company.
They do a good job.
Unfortunately, climate change is impacting the level of reservoirs & water ways (ie, going down), and Scottish people use more water than English people (like 30% more, a substantial amount).
Hopefully Scottish water continues to be great, and continue to get the funding they need to do a good job
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
You need lots of water to make all that Irn Bru.
towerful@programming.dev · 3 pts · 1y
Rusting them girders has become harder since they painted the forth rail bridge with that anti-rust coating!
FlorisJan@kbin.melroy.org · 1 pts · 1y
Any idea why there's that 30% difference? Just a guess but could it be that in Glasgow water's free?
towerful@programming.dev · 1 pts · 1y
Not just in Glasgow. Water is a flat rate covered by council tax across all of Scotland.
It's likely because we don't pay for units used, and awareness of water conservation hasn't happened/stuck.
FlorisJan@kbin.melroy.org · 2 pts · 1y
That's what I was thinking. Well there's always been plenty of water in Scotland afaik but if that's going to change they're probably going to start charging for it
intresteph@discuss.online · 7 pts · 1y
tehWrapper@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y
Brexit the gift that keeps giving..
homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y
Jeez that’s just sad on top of pathetic.
Teknikal@eviltoast.org · 3 pts · 1y
I'd say the stuff in Belfast tastes pretty terrible and I wouldn't drink it, when I was a kid though it was better than now. I'm honestly not sure I'd risk my tap water even if I bought a filter.
ryathal@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1y
Blaming the loss of domestic industry on brexit is just wrong. Not having a domestic lab is still bad without brexit, it's just not headline worthy.