For most of us, our drinking water is what we call ‘mains’ water and is supplied by Water Undertakers (Thames, Severn Trent etc) and they ensure it arrives at our property conforming to the current chemical & microbiological standards.
Once it enters our individual properties, the bacteriological quality can quickly deteriorate unless it is stored and used in a hygienic manner.
The mains reasons bacteria proliferate are:-
- Allowing the water temperature to rise.
- Having outlets that are rarely used.
- Having deadleg pipework, ie pipes full of water which no longer have any outlets which allows the water to stagnate.
- Storing water in tanks which have no lids, are rusty or full of sediment.
Allowing the outlets to be contaminated, for example fragments of faecal matter from hand washing or meat preparation.
Checking your drinking water quality is simple, quick and inexpensive (sometimes you’ll see this analysis referred to as a Potable test
