Water collection, treatment and supply (SIC division 36)
Division 36 of the UK SIC 2007 list. It holds 1 code, listed in full below with the number of active UK companies filed under each.
What sits in division 36
A single code division, 36000, and a surprisingly large one given that UK water supply is dominated by a small number of regional monopolies. The company count is high because the public record captures the structure around those businesses: holding companies, financing vehicles, subsidiaries, and the growing number of new appointments and variations operating in the competitive retail market. Most file the code in first position.
Selling into this division means selling either to the utilities themselves, which is a long procurement cycle, or to the far more numerous corporate entities around them. Engineering and civils contractors, leak detection and metering technology, water quality laboratories and asset management software all have buyers here. The public record is at its most useful for mapping group structures, because officer and address overlap makes the relationships between entities visible.
How to read a division 36 code
A UK SIC code is five digits and division 36 is the first two of them. Everything filed under 36 shares those digits: the one code below begin 36, then the third digit narrows to a group, the fourth to a class and the fifth to the subclass a company actually picks. Division 36 sits inside section E, water supply, sewerage and waste management, which is the broadest tier of the classification. So a code is read left to right, from an industry down to a specific activity.
More on how division 36 codes are built
Companies choose their own codes at incorporation and can change them on any confirmation statement, and Companies House does not check the answer. A company may list up to four. That is worth knowing before you treat any division total as a headcount: the numbers here are what companies said about themselves, on the August 2026 register, and the largest single code in this division is 36000, water collection, treatment and supply.
Every SIC code in division 36
Prospecting this division
Division 36 companies, as leads
Tell us who you sell to. We find them, with a real email. 25 free leads, no card.
Division 36 questions
Why are there over a thousand companies in water supply?
Because the public record counts legal entities, not utilities. A single water company typically sits inside a group with holding companies, financing subsidiaries and service entities, and the retail market has added further licensed suppliers. The operational businesses are a small fraction of the count.
Do private borehole and water treatment firms use this code?
Some do, though many treatment and filtration businesses fit better in a division 28 machinery code or a division 43 installation code. If you are selling to treatment specialists rather than to supply undertakings, check those divisions too rather than relying on 36000 alone.
Find companies across division 36
✓ No card · ✓ 25 free leads · ✓ Cancel anytime