Skegness Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Skegness, the Lincolnshire coastal resort on the North Sea shore of the Lincolnshire plain — the "Jolly Fisherman" town — is served by Anglian Water from groundwater sources in the Lincolnshire Wolds Chalk Aquifer and the Lincolnshire Limestone (Lincolnshire Limestone Group) of the Jurassic limestone belt to the west. Anglian Water abstracts from chalk boreholes in the Wolds and from the productive Lincolnshire Limestone aquifer, distributing treated supply east to the Lincolnshire coast at Skegness via the regional supply network. The TDS of 589.2 mg/L for a hardness of 226 mg/L (ratio 2.61) indicates not only chalk bicarbonate hardness but also a significant sulphate contribution from the Lincolnshire Triassic basin beneath the coastal plain — the Keuper Marl and gypsum interbeds that underlie the low-lying Lincolnshire coast add sulphate minerals to the groundwater blend.

The Lincolnshire Chalk (Cretaceous) of the Wolds and the Inferior Oolite and Lincolnshire Limestone (Jurassic) of the limestone scarp west of Lincoln are the primary aquifers serving coastal Lincolnshire. Both are productive carbonate-rock aquifers yielding calcium bicarbonate groundwater at 200–240 mg/L. As this groundwater travels east beneath the glacial and alluvial drift of the Lincolnshire plain toward the coast, it dissolves additional sulphate from Triassic evaporite beds at depth beneath the flat coastal zone, elevating TDS above typical chalk-only values. Skegness, at the flat coast below the chalk, receives this mineral-enriched groundwater blend.

At 226 mg/L Skegness's water is hard and limescale management is a consistent household requirement. Kettles should be descaled monthly with a commercial citric acid tablet. Shower heads and tap aerators benefit from regular soaking in white vinegar to maintain clear jets. Washing-up liquid must be used generously. Combi-boilers benefit from inline scale inhibitor cartridges and annual servicing. Skegness's traditional seaside character — the Butlin's holiday camp tradition, the bracing North Sea air and the flat Lincolnshire coast — is combined with hard limestone-and-chalk water that marks every kettle and shower screen in the resort.