With around 100 horses and ponies in its care, the
demand for water at The Horse Trust's Home of Rest for Horses at Speen
is enormous.
As well as drinking up to 12 gallons a day each,
water is required to clean out stables, wash out the stable yard and to
give each animal a regular therapeutic "bath".
Rather than
abstracting this from the water mains, The Horse Trust has been granted
permission to drill its own borehole 122 metres deep into the Chilterns
limestone.
"The water is tested for purity and has passed the
test with flying colours," says chief executive and resident veterinary
surgeon Paul Jepson. "Coming from a limestone base, the water is
classed as hard although very similar in hardness to the mains Thames
Water supply. The quality is exceptionally good - on a par with the
finest bottled spring water. The purity tests cover every conceivable
contaminant including metals, agricultural residues and micro
organisms. The water is also free of chlorine and fluoride which are
added to mains water.
"In fact, it's one of the finest waters in the world," he added.