Cambridge Water Company

Cambridge Water, a trading name of South Staffordshire Water plc, is a water supply utility company serving Cambridge and the surrounding area.
The ' was established by the '. The Cambridge Water Company was privately owned until became a public limited company by the .
Cambridge Water plc was sold to CK Infrastructure Holdings in 2004, but was sold on to HSBC in 2011. The sale was made because CKI wanted to acquire Northumbrian Water, and retaining Cambridge Water would have resulted in the takeover of Northumbrian Water being referred to the Competition Commission. All the assets and liabilities were transferred to South Staffordshire Water on 1 April 2013, after which Cambridge Water plc ceased to trade. The Cambridge Water name continues to be used by South Staffordshire Water in the former Cambridge Water area.
Cambridge Water is a water supplier only and does not provide wastewater services. Anglian Water provides wastewater services to Cambridge Water customers.

Controversies

In 2022, Cambridge Water admitted that it failed to inform over a thousand of its customers that it had supplied water contaminated with four times the permitted amount of a 'forever chemical', known as perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. People in the Stapleford and Great Shelford area received contaminated water supplies, derived from an aquifer near Duxford Airfield in June 2021. The water company refused to say how long customers had been receiving contaminated supplies, but stated that it had diluted water from that aquifer with water from other sources so as to lower the level of pollutant.