UK water hardness map

Water hardness for 2,600 towns and places, from each place’s latest approved supplier report. Enter your postcode for your own address.

Map

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  • Soft up to 100 mg/l
  • Slightly hard over 100, up to 150 mg/l
  • Moderately hard over 150, up to 200 mg/l
  • Hard over 200, up to 300 mg/l
  • Very hard over 300 mg/l
  • Blank: not plotted — not a sign of soft water

Each dot is a town (the rare towns stored at the same point share a dot). Select the map to pan and zoom it; select a group of dots to zoom in, or a single dot for that town’s reading. The list below has every town.

About this map

  • Each point is a town or place with a WaterGrade page, drawn at its Ordnance Survey place location. Its colour is the total hardness (mg/l as calcium carbonate) in the latest approved report for the supply area WaterGrade links to that place. A point describes an example supply area, not every address nearby.
  • Plotted suppliers: Affinity Water (813), Severn Trent Water (339), Thames Water (969), United Utilities (60), Wessex Water (385) and Yorkshire Water (34). Readings come from annual reports for 2024–2025, rolling 12-month summaries (United Utilities: 55 supply areas, 60 towns), typical values published without a period (Severn Trent Water: 38 supply areas, 339 towns) and reports whose reporting period was not retained in the source (Wessex Water: 25 supply areas, 385 towns), so periods differ between places.
  • This is not a national survey. Blank areas mean WaterGrade has no plotted reading there — not that the water is soft. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not plotted because we do not hold place locations for their supply areas; see Scottish supply-zone reports or water-company checkers.
  • Not plotted: 117 towns without their own place location (listed below); 1 whose report gives hardness only as a “less than” value; 1,018 whose report has no hardness value.
  • For an overview by region and supplier, read hard water areas in the UK. Colours are hardness bands, not safety ratings. Converted values (from mg Ca/l or French degrees) are rounded as on each town page. Check your postcode or supplier before choosing appliance settings.

Towns by water supplier

2,717 town pages with a numeric hardness value, A–Z within each supplier, shown as band and value in mg/l as calcium carbonate. Open a supplier to see its towns.

Affinity Water · 813 towns · 2025
Severn Trent Water · 339 towns · Typical value, period not stated by supplier
Thames Water · 1,066 towns · periods vary by area (2024 or 2025)
United Utilities · 61 towns · periods vary by area (Rolling 12 months, updated 2 Oct 2026 or Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026)
  • Accrington soft, 23, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Alsager soft, 100, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Altrincham soft, 84, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Atherton soft, 21, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Billinge soft, 62, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Birkenhead and Tranmere soft, 100, Rolling 12 months, updated 2 Oct 2026 (not on map)
  • Blackpool slightly hard, 136, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Bolton soft, 21, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Bowness-on-Windermere soft, 22, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Bramhall soft, 47, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Burnley soft, 23, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Chorley slightly hard, 111, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Cleveleys slightly hard, 129, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Congleton soft, 76, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Crewe soft, 73, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Crosby soft, 90, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Denton soft, 38, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Ellesmere Port soft, 89, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Fleetwood slightly hard, 129, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Formby hard, 253, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Frodsham soft, 92, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Garstang slightly hard, 144, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Glossop soft, 38, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Golborne soft, 59, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Great Harwood soft, 23, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Haydock soft, 70, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Heywood soft, 30, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Hyde soft, 38, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Kendal soft, 22, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Keswick soft, 8, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Kirkby soft, 93, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Kirkham slightly hard, 102, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Lancaster soft, 48, Rolling 12 months, updated 2 Oct 2026
  • Leigh soft, 21, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Litherland soft, 86, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Liverpool soft, 67, Rolling 12 months, updated 2 Oct 2026
  • Lymm slightly hard, 121, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Maghull soft, 92, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Manchester soft, 28, Rolling 12 months, updated 2 Oct 2026
  • Morecambe soft, 51, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Ormskirk hard, 261, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Poulton-le-Fylde slightly hard, 144, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Prescot soft, 64, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Preston soft, 85, Rolling 12 months, updated 2 Oct 2026
  • Queenstown slightly hard, 136, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Radcliffe soft, 31, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Rochdale soft, 28, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Salford soft, 28, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Sandbach soft, 17, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Southport hard, 254, Rolling 12 months, updated 2 Oct 2026
  • Stockport soft, 27, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Stockport Great Moor soft, 69, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Wallasey slightly hard, 123, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Warrington soft, 19, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • West Kirby hard, 285, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Westhoughton soft, 21, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Whaley Bridge soft, 77, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Widnes hard, 225, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Wilmslow slightly hard, 137, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Windermere soft, 22, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
  • Winsford slightly hard, 113, Rolling 12 months, updated 4 Sep 2026
Wessex Water · 404 towns · Reporting period not retained in the source
Yorkshire Water · 34 towns · 2024

Map outline: Natural Earth (public domain). Place locations: Ordnance Survey Open Names, Open Government Licence — contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right. Map software: Leaflet.