Blacon Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

United Utilities supplies Blacon, a large housing estate on the western edge of Chester near the River Dee and the Welsh border in Cheshire West and Chester, from the River Dee abstracted at Huntington near Chester and the Llyn Brenig reservoir supply in the Denbigh Moors of north Wales, treated at Huntington Water Treatment Works. At 78 mg/L (5.5°Clark), Blacon's water is soft — consistent with the soft Welsh upland reservoir and upper Dee catchment supply that characterises the Chester supply zone — significantly softer than the Cheshire Plain communities supplied from Triassic groundwater.

Blacon lies in the Dee Valley at Chester, where United Utilities draws supply from the River Dee — a river rising in the Cambrian Mountains of mid-Wales and draining the soft Palaeozoic uplands of the Welsh Borders. The River Dee at Huntington near Chester carries soft water with minimal chalk or limestone influence, supplemented by the Llyn Brenig reservoir supply in the Denbigh Moors — a catchment of upland Carboniferous Millstone Grit and Lower Coal Measures producing naturally soft water. The resulting 78 mg/L with TDS 183.6 mg/L reflects the soft Welsh-origin Dee Valley supply character at Chester.

At 78 mg/L, Blacon's soft water is comfortable for domestic use with minimal limescale demands. Descaling the kettle every two to three months is typically adequate. The combi-boiler benefits from a standard scale inhibitor as a sensible precaution. Washing-up liquid lathers well at everyday quantities. Taps and shower heads remain relatively scale-free with only occasional maintenance. The soft Dee Valley supply is one of Chester's great qualities — a soft, clean Welsh-origin river supply that keeps Blacon and the wider Chester area well supplied with low-mineral, low-limescale water.