Hexham Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Northumbrian Water supplies Hexham, the elegant Northumberland market town on the River Tyne — the historic capital of Tynedale, home of Hexham Abbey (founded in 674 AD by St Wilfrid with a remarkable 7th-century crypt surviving intact), the market town's long history as a centre for tanning and glove-making, and the gateway to Hadrian's Wall country — from Kielder Water, Europe's largest man-made lake by volume, on the upper North Tyne in Northumberland, treated at Riding Mill Water Treatment Works near the Tyne. At 65.5 mg/L (4.6°Clark), Hexham's water is soft — consistent with the impermeable Carboniferous Millstone Grit, Border Group sandstones, and Silurian mudstone catchment of the upper North Tyne that contributes almost no calcium to the Kielder reservoir supply.

Hexham lies in the Tyne Valley where Northumbrian Water delivers Kielder reservoir supply from the upper North Tyne catchment — a landscape of impermeable Carboniferous Millstone Grit upland and Silurian/Ordovician border country mudstones that yields very little calcium to surface runoff. Kielder supply produces 65.5 mg/L with TDS 148.9 mg/L at Hexham — soft water consistent with the upper Tyne Valley Northumbrian Water distribution corridor from Haltwhistle through Hexham to the Tyne valley communities.

At 65.5 mg/L, limescale is a minimal household concern in Hexham. Kettle descaling every two to three months is all that is typically required. The combi-boiler has minimal scaling risk. Washing-up liquid lathers readily with small quantities. Taps and shower heads accumulate very little limescale; a quarterly wipe keeps fixtures clean. The soft Kielder supply at Hexham is characteristic of the great Northumberland water catchment — the impermeable upland moors and Border Forest that make Kielder's vast reservoir one of the UK's softest supplies, delivered directly to Hexham's kettle and tap.