Barra Western Isles: your water explained
Published results for this named supply area. Your address may be served by a different area.
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Check your full postcode before assuming this area report describes the water serving your address.
Your water at a glance
Soft water. Know your mineral level.
This figure helps you choose appliance settings. Hardness describes dissolved minerals and does not establish whether every water-quality requirement was met.
20.81 mg/l as CaCO₃
Soft ≤100 · Slightly hard ≤150 · Moderately hard ≤200 · Hard ≤300 · Very hard >300 mg/l. DWI hardness bands; not safety grades.
Published quality checks
More context is needed
We do not hold a fuller quality report for this area. Hardness alone cannot answer questions about drinking-water quality.
Understand the reported results ↓Make this useful for your home
Hardness reporting period: 2024
Appliance settings · Convert hardness units
0.21 mmol/l
A conversion of the published hardness, not another test. Follow your appliance’s model-specific instructions.
The automated collector cannot currently retrieve this source. This is the retained approved report; check the supplier for newer information. Original supplier report ↗
Drinking-water results
What do the important results mean?
Read the status, sample range and source requirement together. A low average can hide an individual exceedance. Green labels mean the supplier reported no exceedances for that parameter and period; amber calls for source context.
Detailed quality results are not held here yet. Use the official supplier report for these questions.
For your household
What should you do next?
Check appliance settings
Match the hardness unit to your dishwasher manual. Settings depend on the model.
Dishwasher guideUnderstand treatment options
A filter and a softener do different jobs. Start with the household problem you want to solve.
Filters and limescaleA new change at your tap?
For a new taste, smell, colour or supply problem, check current supplier advice. Annual data is not a live incident feed.
Official supplier help ↗Taste, appearance and mineral content
Chlorine, pH and minerals answer different questions. Calcium and magnesium help describe hardness; chloride is different from treatment chlorine. None is a stand-alone water-quality score.
How to read a water-quality reportHas the hardness changed?
History for this reported source area. Only comparable annual statistics appear in the chart; rolling summaries are kept separate. These are not daily tests at your address.
2016
22.6 mg/l as CaCO₃
2024
20.81 mg/l as CaCO₃
Change between these editions
-1.79 mg/l as CaCO₃
Scroll the chart sideways on smaller screens, or read the values below. Vertical axis: hardness in mg/l as CaCO₃. Bars show annual means.
| Period | Mean | Sample range | Samples |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 22.6 | —–— | Not published |
| 2020 | 27.26 | —–— | Not published |
| 2021 | 21.36 | —–— | Not published |
| 2022 | 21.45 | —–— | Not published |
| 2023 | 17.44 | —–— | Not published |
| 2024 | 20.81 | —–— | Not published |
Historical figures come from retained source copies. Supplier links may now open a newer edition. Ranges describe the samples reported, not confidence intervals. A short annual series supports a comparison; it does not establish a sustained trend or a change at your tap.
Explore all measurements · 3 parameters · 2024
Every result retains its original units, range, sample count and source notes. Comparisons use the reference printed in this report; qualitative references and missing limits are not converted into invented pass/fail judgements. Unlisted substances are not necessarily absent from the water.
Hardness and minerals 3 parameters
Total hardness
No numerical limit supplied
Published mean
20.81 mg/l as CaCO₃
Source reference: Not supplied
Dissolved calcium and magnesium affect limescale and appliance settings. This is a mineral description, not a safety score.
Sample count not supplied · Range: — to — mg/l as CaCO₃
This report gives no numerical limit for this parameter. A higher or lower number is not automatically better.
Original wording and source notes
Source reference: Not supplied. Source parameter: Supplier-calculated annual hardness. Original mean: 20.81 mg/l as CaCO₃.
Scottish Water calculates hardness from annual average calcium and magnesium measurements. This is the supplier’s published 2024 figure, not a WaterGrade estimate. Sample counts and ranges are not published in this table. Supplier classification: Soft.
Calcium
No numerical limit supplied
Published mean
3.48 mg Ca/l
Source reference: Not supplied
A naturally occurring mineral that contributes to hardness. Calcium alone is not the same measurement as total hardness.
Sample count not supplied · Range: — to — mg Ca/l
This report gives no numerical limit for this parameter. A higher or lower number is not automatically better.
Original wording and source notes
Source reference: Not supplied. Source parameter: Calcium. Original mean: 3.48 mg Ca/l.
Magnesium
No numerical limit supplied
Published mean
2.95 mg Mg/l
Source reference: Not supplied
A naturally occurring mineral that contributes to hardness alongside calcium.
Sample count not supplied · Range: — to — mg Mg/l
This report gives no numerical limit for this parameter. A higher or lower number is not automatically better.
Original wording and source notes
Source reference: Not supplied. Source parameter: Magnesium. Original mean: 2.95 mg Mg/l.
Sources, dates and how to interpret this page
- Reporting period
- 2024
- Source retrieved
- 2026-09-06
- Last verified source check
- 2026-09-06
- Original publication
- Scottish Water report ↗
Scottish Water publishes annual average calcium and magnesium and hardness calculated from those measurements. We retain the supplier’s hardness value without recalculating it.
This is a hardness dataset, not a complete water-quality report. No missing chemical, microbial or compliance values are inferred.
History is grouped by the exact published supply-zone name. Different names are not merged. Boundaries and the supply serving an individual address can change; this series does not establish a historical postcode match.
The latest available hardness edition in the catalogue checked on 6 September 2026 is 2024. A later quality report can cover a different period. Original PDFs are retained privately; the supplier link is the primary reference.
Scottish Water calculates hardness from annual average calcium and magnesium measurements. This is the supplier’s published 2024 figure, not a WaterGrade estimate. Sample counts and ranges are not published in this table. Supplier classification: Soft.
Scottish Water calculates this annual hardness from calcium and magnesium measurements. The hardness table does not publish sample counts or ranges.
Status labels describe the published parameter and period. Historical exceedances do not automatically establish a current incident. Numerical limits are taken from the original report, not applied indiscriminately across countries, dates or sampling locations. DWI explains how standards work in England and Wales.
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