South Staffordshire Water PLC known as South Staffs Water, is a privately owned water company

Water industry

The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. The water industry includes manufacturers and suppliers of bottled water...

 supplying water to parts of Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

 and the West Midlands

West Midlands (county)

The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

In total, they serve a population of 1.29 million and supply 330 million litres of water every day across a network of pipes that total 6,000 km in length to approximately 500,000 homes and 36,000 business customers in an area covering 1,500km2. For Ofwat’s measure of overall service to customers (The OPA), they have been ranked in the top 5 (out of 22 water companies) in every year since 1999.

South Staffordshire Water Plc is part of South Staffordshire Plc, and is wholly owned by Alinda Infrastructure Fund.

Supply Area

The area supplied is to the north and west of Birmingham

Birmingham

Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

 and includes

• Uttoxeter
  Uttoxeter
  Uttoxeter is a historic market town in Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. The current population is approximately 13,711, though new developments in the town will increase this figure. Uttoxeter lies close to the River Dove and is near the cities of Stoke-on-Trent, Derby and...
  
  
• Burton upon Trent
  Burton upon Trent
  Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a town straddling the River Trent in the east of Staffordshire, England. Its associated adjective is "Burtonian"....
  
  
• Rugeley
  Rugeley
  Rugeley is a historic market town in the county of Staffordshire, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford, Cannock, Lichfield and Uttoxeter...
  
  
• Cannock
  Cannock
  Cannock is the most populous of three towns in the district of Cannock Chase in the central southern part of the county of Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England....
  
  
• Lichfield
  Lichfield
  Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
  
  
• Brownhills
  Brownhills
  Brownhills is a town in the West Midlands, England. Located on the edge of Cannock Chase near the large artificial lake Chasewater, it is north-east of Walsall and a similar distance south-west of Lichfield. It is part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall and the Aldridge-Brownhills...
  
  
• Tamworth
  Tamworth
  Tamworth is a town and local government district in Staffordshire, England, located north-east of Birmingham city centre and north-west of London. The town takes its name from the River Tame, which flows through the town, as does the River Anker...
  
  
• Aldridge
  Aldridge
  Aldridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands, England. Historically it was part of the county of Staffordshire, but in 1974 it was incorporated into the Walsall borough as well as the West Midlands county.- History :...
  
  
• Walsall
  Walsall
  Walsall is a large industrial town in the West Midlands of England. It is located northwest of Birmingham and east of Wolverhampton. Historically a part of Staffordshire, Walsall is a component area of the West Midlands conurbation and part of the Black Country.Walsall is the administrative...
  
  
• Sutton Coldfield
  Sutton Coldfield
  Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...
  
  
• West Bromwich
  West Bromwich
  West Bromwich is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the West Midlands, England. It is north west of Birmingham lying on the A41 London-to-Birkenhead road. West Bromwich is part of the Black Country...
  
  
• Kinver
  Kinver
  Kinver is a large village in South Staffordshire district, Staffordshire, England. It is in the far south-west of the county, at the end of the narrow finger of land surrounded by the counties of Shropshire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. The nearest towns are Stourbridge in the West...
  
  
• Tipton
  Tipton
  Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country....
  
  
• Dudley
  Dudley
  Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
  
  

History

Timeline

• 1853 South Staffordshire Waterworks Company is formed
• 1858 Opening of the works in Walsall. Wednesbury
  Wednesbury
  Wednesbury is a market town in England's Black Country, part of the Sandwell metropolitan borough in West Midlands, near the source of the River Tame. Similarly to the word Wednesday, it is pronounced .-Pre-Medieval and Medieval times:...
  
   is the first area supplied
• 1860 Tipton
  Tipton
  Tipton is a town in the Sandwell borough of the West Midlands, England, with a population of around 47,000. Tipton is located about halfway between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is a part of the Black Country....
  
   and West Bromwich receive water supplies
• 1862 SSWC take over Dudley
  Dudley
  Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
  
   Waterworks. Netherton
  Netherton, West Midlands
  Netherton is a town in the West Midlands within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley. It lies around south of the town of Dudley and north of Cradley Heath...
  
   and Oldbury
  Oldbury, West Midlands
  Oldbury is a town in the West Midlands in England. It is a part of the Black Country and the administrative centre of the borough of Sandwell.-Local government:...
  
   receive water supplies
• 1864 SSWC take over Burton Waterworks
• 1875 Cannock area supplied
• 1929 SSWC take over Kinver Waterworks.
• 1953 Blithfield Reservoir
  Blithfield Reservoir
  Blithfield Reservoir is a large drinking water reservoir in South Staffordshire, England, owned by South Staffordshire Water.Some 800 acres of reservoir was formed on land sold by Baron Bagot to the South Staffordshire Water Company in the 1940s. Blithfield Reservoir was opened by H.M...
  
  , near Rugeley
  Rugeley
  Rugeley is a historic market town in the county of Staffordshire, England. It lies on the northern edge of Cannock Chase, and is situated roughly midway between the towns of Stafford, Cannock, Lichfield and Uttoxeter...
  
  , is opened by Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
  Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
  Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon was the queen consort of King George VI from 1936 until her husband's death in 1952, after which she was known as Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, to avoid confusion with her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II...
  
  , the Queen Mother
• 1962 SSWC take over Tamworth Water Works
• 1991 South Staffordshire Waterworks Company became a public limited company in 1991 and was listed on the London Stock Exchange as South Staffordshire Water.
• 1992 South Staffordshire Water Holdings (eventually South Staffordshire Group Plc) was created to grow non-regulated businesses.
• 1996 Blithfield Education Centre is opened by Bill Oddie
  Bill Oddie
  William "Bill" Edgar Oddie OBE is an English author, actor, comedian, artist, naturalist and musician, who became famous as one of The Goodies....
  
  
• 2004 South Staffordshire Group Plc (which became Homeserve Plc) de-merged South Staffordshire Plc, which included South Staffordshire Water, Echo, Rapid, Underground Pipeline Services and Aqua Direct, as a separate listed company on the London Stock Exchange.
• 2004 Acquired by Arcapita Bank, a Bahrain company, at a price of £11.20 per share (£237m including debt) and delisted from the Stock Exchange.
• 2007 Acquired by Alinda Infrastructure Fund, a European and American investor in infrastructure assets.