Longton Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Longton, one of the historic Five Towns of the Staffordshire Potteries at the south end of the City of Stoke-on-Trent, is supplied by Severn Trent Water. Supply to Stoke-on-Trent and its constituent towns draws on a blend of soft upland water from the Elan Valley Aqueduct (central Wales, treated at Frankley) and local groundwater from the Permo-Triassic Sandstone Aquifer beneath the north Staffordshire basin. Water is treated at Leek Water Treatment Works and Ryecroft Water Treatment Works near Newcastle-under-Lyme before distribution through the Potteries supply network. Longton, at the south end of the Stoke conurbation, lies within a supply zone where the Triassic sandstone groundwater fraction is moderately significant, yielding hardness of 192.5 mg/L — harder than soft upland-dominant zones to the west but softer than the extreme chalk belts of the south-east. The TDS of 543.5 mg/L reflects the mineralised Triassic sandstone groundwater component.

The Permo-Triassic Bunter and Keuper Sandstone aquifer beneath north Staffordshire carries calcium and magnesium bicarbonate dissolved from carbonate cement within the sandstone grains, supplemented by sulphate from minor Triassic Keuper Marl and gypsum interbeds. The Stoke-on-Trent supply zone sits at the transition between the soft-water Pennine and Peak District fringe to the east and the harder Triassic lowland basin to the south-west, producing a moderately hard blended supply typical of the north Midlands pottery towns.

At 192.5 mg/L Longton's water is moderately hard and limescale is a regular household concern. Kettles benefit from monthly descaling — a citric acid soak dissolves the mineral film effectively. Shower heads and tap nozzles need periodic soaking in white vinegar. Washing-up liquid lathers adequately. Combi-boilers and white goods benefit from inline scale inhibitors. In Longton's pottery industry heritage, hard water was historically an issue for kiln processes; today it is the combi-boiler and kettle that bear the brunt of the Triassic sandstone mineralisation.