Water charges for houses in Scotland will rise by an average of £6 over the next year.

Scottish Water says the average household charge will be £357 in 2017/18, among the lowest rates in the UK.

The current annual charge for households in England and Wales is £389 on average.

On Tuesday, Scottish Water confirmed its increase in household charges would be limited to 1.6% across all council tax bands. This makes the increase for the average household around £6.

The firm pledged overall household charges would fall in real terms by 2021.

It has invested £3.5bn in projects across Scotland between 2015 and 2021m including the £100m Shieldhall Tunnel in Glasgow.

The project will improve water quality on the River Clyde and reduce flooding.

Chief executive Douglas Millican said: "Scottish Water customers continue to enjoy the benefits of one of the UK's best value water and waste water services.

"The quality of drinking water received by our customers has never been higher, while we've continued to achieve excellent customer satisfaction results.

"We are firmly focused on meeting our customers' expectations of us. That's why we're building on the significant improvements we've made to water services by providing value for money, stability and certainty in charge levels.

"By 2021, we expect to deliver further improvements to drinking water quality and environmental performance while at the same time ensuring that overall household charges have fallen further in real terms."