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 Hartlepool Water plc 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..
Hartlepool Water continues to supply you with drinking water of a high quality. In 2001, 99.88% of more than 2,600 tests met the drinking water standards. This is close to 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, Hartlepool 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 Hartlepool 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, Hartlepool 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 of the company’s service reservoirs. 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 0.4 per cent 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, is similar to last year’s result.
3. Pesticides
Hartlepool Water carried out 76 tests for individual pesticides during 2001 and all samples met the stringent standard.
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 Hartlepool Water failed the standard for lead during 2001.
If you are concerned about the possibility of lead in your drinking water, you should contact Hartlepool 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.
No samples failed the standard for iron or manganese during 2001. Currently, there is no need for the Company to undertake any refurbishment of its distribution system.
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.
Hartlepool Water did not identify any sites as being at significant risk from Cryptosporidium.
7. Drinking Water Quality Incidents
No events notified during 2001 by Hartlepool Water were considered incidents.
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,
Floor 2/A1, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6DE
Telephone : 020 7944 5956 - Facsimile : 020 7944 5969
E-mail: dwi.enquiries@defra.gsi.gov.uk
Published 10 July 2002
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