Public water supply and sanitation in Scotland is characterised by universal access and generally good service quality.

[3] Prior to 1945, there were 210 separate organisations involved in drinking water supply in Scotland,[4] but no mandatory requirement for such provision.

[6] With the passing of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, larger regions were created, and responsibility for water supply, alongside other local services, passed to the nine regional councils of Highland, Grampian, Tayside, Fife, Lothian, Borders, Central, Strathclyde, and Dumfries and Galloway.

A tenth Island Area included Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles, although they continued to act independently.

[10] Besides Business Stream, 18 other companies have been licensed by the regulator to operate in the retail water services market.

Over the course of the 2010–15 regulatory period Scottish Water's controllable operating expenditure (spending that management is reasonably able to affect) increased by around 1.5%.