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 Folkestone and Dover Water Services Limited during 2001. You should read it alongside DWI’s leaflet, How Good is the Drinking Water? 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..
Folkestone and Dover Water continues to supply you with drinking water of a high quality. In 2001, 99.95% of more than 7,400 tests met the drinking water standards. This is above 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, Folkestone and Dover 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 Folkestone and Dover Water to further improve its performance.
2. 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, Folkestone and Dover Water investigates immediately.
During 2001, on one occasion, low numbers of coliform bacteria were detected in the water leaving one water treatment works. No coliform bacteria were detected in water leaving any of the Company’s service reservoirs.
Coliform bacteria were detected in 0.2% 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. In 2001, all of Folkestone and Dover Water’s zones met the standard.
3. Pesticides
Folkestone and Dover Water carried out more than 300 tests for individual pesticides during 2001. All samples met the stringent standard, reflecting the significant investment in recent years to remove pesticides from drinking water.
4. 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. No samples taken by Folkestone and Dover Water failed the standard for lead during 2001.
If you are concerned about the possibility of lead in your drinking water, you should contact Folkestone and Dover 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.
5. 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.
During 2001, one of the 164 samples tested for iron failed the standard. Also only one of the 64 samples taken for manganese failed the standard. This reflects the impact of the renovation programme being carried out by Folkestone and Dover Water to its distribution system. The programme is ongoing with Folkestone and Dover Water being required to rehabilitate 69km of mains by 2007.
6. 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 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.
Folkestone and Dover Water did not identify any sites that were at significant risk from Cryptosporidium.
As part of the new regulations, the Company is committed to programmes of work to reduce any potential risk from Cryptosporidium at three sites. These will be completed by 2003.
7. Drinking Water Quality Incidents
DWI regarded two of the events notified during 2001 by the Company as incidents. Details of these are shown below.
Both of the incidents have been assessed by DWI. Each was of short duration and the Company took remedial action. Five recommendations were made mainly regarding sampling and communication procedures.
Summary of water quality incidents reported in 2001
Type of incident
No.of incidents
Assessment completed
Areas affected
Loss of supply leading to discoloured water
1
Yes
Dungeness Peninsula (June)
Supply of water with taste and odour
1
Yes
Dungeness Peninsula (July)
8. 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
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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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