TUCKED away at the back of La Rue des Pres Trading Estate is a building in which the Island’s oldest registered company works to ensure the safe supply of a precious resource.
Jersey Water’s new headquarters and laboratory were officially opened by the Lieutenant Governor, Vice Admiral Sir Jerry Kyd, at the end of March.
The move to Douet House – a name taken from the Jersey-French word “douet”, meaning a brook or stream – followed the sale of Jersey Water’s former headquarters, Mulcaster House at Westmount, to support the development of the Island’s new hospital.
The company employs around 100 employees and operates six reservoirs, a desalination plant and two treatment plants.
Its new base brings together teams that were previously spread across several sites into one “modern, purpose-designed and integrated operational hub”.
It includes an on-site laboratory that Jersey Water has said enabled “a significant step forward in water quality analytical capability” for the utility, strengthening its ability to monitor and protect the Island’s drinking water.
Head of water quality, Jeanette Sheldon – who was named as a finalist in the Women in Utilities Awards 2026 – said that Douet House “provides us with a modern, up-to-date, state-of-the-art facility, more space, more capacity to look at different things”.
She noted that the design process for the laboratory was “highly collaborative”.
“In fact, myself and my team came up with the basic design,” she added.
Every day, Jersey Water provides nearly 20 million litres of treated mains water to more than 40,000 homes and 3,600 businesses.
Among the various workstreams that the new headquarters and laboratory will help with is sampling analysis.
Ms Sheldon explained that samples are taken at a range of different locations, including treatment works, reservoirs and customer properties.
“We go to 240 customers randomly a year to test for a variety of different parameters,” she said. “We’ll also go to customers who phone in with any concerns.”
Jersey Water’s annual report for the year ending 30 September 2025 noted that the utility company achieved 100% compliance with water quality regulations, including for PFAS, nitrates and lead.
Ms Sheldon described the figure as “a real achievement”, highlighting the “stringent” standards involved.
Political discussions surrounding PFAS have picked up pace in recent years, with contamination stemming from the historical use of firefighting foams at the Airport that contained the so-called “forever chemicals” subject to extensive research.
Multiple reports have also been published by an expert panel informing efforts to tackle the presence of PFAS in the Island.
Ms Sheldon noted that Jersey Water is trialling different technologies as part of longer-term work to assess options for new treatment infrastructure – and that the company was “hoping” some initial results could be included in the next annual report.
The utility has previously stated that “delivering a permanent treatment solution will be a multi-year process” and that “the overall timeframe will be determined by the funding, regulatory, technical and delivery requirements”.
