Stone Water Hardness & Quality Report (2026)

Severn Trent Water supplies Stone, a market town on the River Trent in mid-Staffordshire between Stafford and the Potteries — a canal hub town with a historic stone church and active sailing club — from Staffordshire Moorlands catchment reservoirs in the Churnet Valley and Upper Trent supply zone, treated at regional north Staffordshire works. At 104 mg/L (7.3°Clark), Stone's water is soft, reflecting the dominance of the moorland reservoir catchment supply that characterises Severn Trent's north Staffordshire distribution zone.

Stone lies in the middle Trent Valley at the confluence of the Trent with the River Sow, where the geology transitions from the Triassic Sandstone and Keuper Marl of the Staffordshire plain to the Carboniferous Coal Measures and Millstone Grit of the Staffordshire Moorlands uplands to the north-east. Severn Trent Water draws supply for the Stone area predominantly from the soft Moorlands reservoir catchments — Knypersley, Rudyard Lake, and the Churnet valley storage — which drain acid Millstone Grit and Coal Measures moorland, producing soft water with TDS 240.8 mg/L at the treatment works.

At 104 mg/L, Stone's soft water is comfortable for domestic use with moderate 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 normal quantities. Taps and shower heads remain relatively clean with only occasional maintenance. The soft Staffordshire Moorlands supply is characteristic of the north Staffordshire canal towns and market towns that benefit from the upland reservoir legacy developed during the nineteenth-century Potteries industrial expansion.