Scottish Water, a publicly owned company, is the sole provider of water and wastewater services to the whole of Scotland and serves 5.09 million customers in 2.45 million households. Scottish Water provides 1.34 billion litres of drinking water daily aand removes 847 million litres of wastewater every day. Scottish Water employs 3,400 staff and delivered one of the largest investment programs in the UK water industry between 2010-15. Even so, the average household charge for water and wastewater in Scotland remains lower per year than the average household charge in England and Wales. On October 31, 2017 at the Amsterdam International Water Week 2017 in the Netherlands, Chairman (Scottish Water International) Geoff Aitkenhead, accepted the offer for membership into the Leading Utilities of the World network and received a 'Golden Tap' award for utility performance, representing the achievement of the highest level of utility service.