Index of Contents:
- Introduction
- Coliform Bacteria
- Pesticides
- Lead
- Iron and Manganese
- Cryptosporidium
- Drinking Water Quality Incidents
- Further Information
1. Introduction
The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) checks on behalf of the Government that water companies supply water that is safe to drink. This leaflet summarises the results of our checks on Cambridge Water Company during 2001. You should read it alongside DWI’s How Good is the Drinking Water? leaflet, which gives more details on the standards and tests. This is available free of charge and on the DWI web site at www.dwi.gov.uk.
Cambridge Water continues to supply you with drinking water of a high quality. In 2001, 99.79% of more than 11,200 tests met the drinking water standards. This is below the overall figure for England and Wales of 99.86%. The tests are carried out on samples taken from water treatment works, service reservoirs and consumers’ taps.
None of the failures of the standards in 2001 were considered harmful to consumers’ health. Each failure was assessed and, where necessary, Cambridge Water has taken action to prevent further failures.
Although the 2001 results are good, there are some matters, which may concern you. These are detailed below, including any steps taken by Cambridge Water to further improve its performance.
Coliform bacteria
Occasionally, coliform bacteria may be found in drinking water samples; these are not considered harmful to consumers’ health. If coliform bacteria are detected, Cambridge Water investigates immediately. During 2001, no coliform bacteria were detected in the water leaving any of the company’s water treatment works. Low numbers were detected in water leaving one service reservoir. The standard at service reservoirs permits 5% of samples to contain coliform bacteria. In 2001, none of the Company’s service reservoirs failed the standard.
Coliform bacteria were detected in 0.6% of the water samples taken from consumers’ taps. Many of these failures could be due to the condition of the tap and not the water itself. The standard permits 5% of samples in a water supply zone to contain coliform bacteria. All zones met the standard.
Pesticides
Cambridge Water carried out more than 400 tests for individual pesticides during 2001 and all samples met the stringent standard.
Lead
Samples do occasionally fail the standard for lead, even where additional treatment has been installed to reduce the amount of lead picked up by water from pipework. If you are concerned about the possibility of lead in your drinking water, you should contact Cambridge Water to see whether there is a problem. A leaflet about lead in drinking water is available from DWI free of charge and can also be found on the DWI web site.
No samples taken by Cambridge water failed the standard for lead during 2001.
Iron and manganese
These two parameters provide a good indication of the overall condition of the mains used to distribute drinking water throughout the area of supply. No samples failed the standards for iron or manganese during 2001. Currently, there is no need for the Company to undertake major refurbishment of its distribution system.
Cryptosporidium
Cryptosporidium is a tiny micro-organism that can sometimes cause a form of diarrhoea called cryptosporidiosis. There are a number of sources of Cryptosporidium other than drinking water. New regulations require water companies by law to sample continuously and analyse daily for Cryptosporidium in the treated water at potentially vulnerable sites. It is a criminal offence to exceed the new treatment standard for Cryptosporidium.
Cambridge Water did not identify any sites that were at significant risk from Cryptosporidium.
Drinking water quality incidents
DWI regarded three of the events notified during 2001 by the Company as incidents. The details are shown in the table overleaf.
Each of the incidents, assessed by DWI, was of short duration and the Company took remedial action. Five recommendations were made as a result of these incidents regarding sampling, communications and procedures.
Summary of water quality incidents reported in 2001
Type of incident
No.of incidents
Assessment completed
Areas affected
Deterioration in raw water quality
1
Yes
Sawston and Odsey (March)
Contamination of supplies
1
Yes
Great Abington (September)
Supply of water with taste and odour
1
Yes
Longstanton (May)
Further information
If you would like more information about drinking water quality the following leaflets are available free of charge from DWI and can also be found on the DWI web site:
• What do we do?
• How good is the drinking water?
• Problems with your drinking water
• Chlorine, smell and taste
• Discoloured water
• Lead in drinking water
• Private water supplies
• Water hardness
• Tap water, where does it come from and how is it made safe to drink?
• Using lead-free solder for drinking water fittings
• DWI reports on each water company[ Previous ] [ Contents ] [ Next ]
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Drinking Water Inspectorate,
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Telephone : 020 7944 5956 - Facsimile : 020 7944 5969
E-mail: dwi.enquiries@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Published 10 July 2002
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