Public Health look at:
Private Water Supplies: For those who extract their private water supply from boreholes.
Bathing waters: To include swimming pools at leisure centres, Jacuzzi's, hydrotherapy pools.
Mains Water: To include manufacturers of foods and drinks as well as occasionally looking at domestic supply.
We have a number of domestic and commercial private water supplies where we are the responsible authority for monitoring their quality both microbiologically (bacteria) and chemically (e.g. pesticides).
The legislation we use is made under the Water Industry Act 1991 and is called the Private Water Supplies Regulations 1991.
This tells us what the standards of the water should be and how often we have to test the water depending upon its use.
We check the quality of all our swimming pools to include leisure centres, private health clubs, hotels and out door pools, hospital hydrotherapy pools, Jacuzzi's and paddling pools.
We aim to check these on a monthly basis for chemical levels as well as yearly for microbiological quality (bacteria) unless there is a complaint or a problem with the chemical tests, in which case the frequency will be increased.
We also examine the quality of the mains water and any water from private supplies which may be used in food factories within our area. This includes breweries and all other food manufacturers. We may occasionally become involved in the testing of domestic mains water in addition to that work done by the statutory water undertaker.
In addition, the Drinking Water Inspectorate, who are the national body responsible for ensuring the quality of water, provide an annual publication titled 'How Good is Your Drinking Water'.
For more information please contact us using the details found at the top of this web page.
