The island of Jersey is the largest of the Channel Islands that are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel. Jersey is an island measuring about 120 square kilometers and it lies in the English Channel, about 12 nautical miles (22 km) from Normandy, France, and about 87 nautical miles (161 km) south of Great Britain. It is the southernmost of the Channel Islands, with a population of about 100,000 people.
The availability of clean water is, of course, one of the major issues for islanders. Rainwater accounts for 96% of the main source of water and is collected and stored in reservoirs; the remaining 4% is abstracted from boreholes. Currently, on the island, there are six reservoirs and dams with water treatment plants.