Montrose Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Scottish Water supplies Montrose, the east coast seaport and industrial town in Angus — set at the mouth of the South Esk estuary opposite the almost entirely enclosed Montrose Basin (a nationally important wildfowl reserve), a town with a proud seafaring and flax-linen heritage and an active North Sea oil and gas services sector at Montrose Port — from Craig Reservoir in the Grampian upland south-west of Montrose, treated at Craig Water Treatment Works. At 30 mg/L (2.1°Clark) and a TDS of just 54.4 mg/L, Montrose's water is very soft — consistent with the impermeable Dalradian Metamorphic and Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) bedrock of the Angus upland catchment above Craig reservoir that yields minimal calcium to surface runoff.

Montrose draws on Craig Reservoir, impounded on the gentle Grampian foothills south-west of the town in the Angus upland — a landscape of Old Red Sandstone (Devonian) farmland and Dalradian metamorphic moorland that drains into the South Esk headwaters. The calcium-poor Dalradian and Old Red Sandstone catchment yields very soft water with minimal TDS, producing 30 mg/L at 54.4 mg/L TDS — among the softest supplies in the Angus coastal zone, consistent with Brechin (28 mg/L) and Forfar (32 mg/L) in the same Scottish Water Angus upland reservoir distribution tier.

At 30 mg/L, Montrose's very soft water means limescale is barely a domestic consideration. Descaling the kettle a few times a year is sufficient. The combi-boiler has negligible calcium scaling risk under ordinary operation, though a simple in-line inhibitor is a sensible precaution in any system. Washing-up liquid lathers readily. Taps and shower heads accumulate virtually no limescale deposits. In older Montrose properties — particularly the Victorian and Edwardian stone terraces near the harbour — residents should run the cold tap briefly before drinking, as very soft, low-TDS water can be slightly corrosive to older lead or copper plumbing.