Archive:
(for archive/historical purposes, this document has not been updated)Index of Contents:
- Introduction
- Bacteria
- Pesticides
- Lead
- Iron and Manganese
- Cryptosporidium
- Drinking Water Quality Incidents
- Prosecutions
- Determinations in 1998
1. Introduction
The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) checks that water companies supply water that is safe to drink when it reaches your home. This leaflet summarises the results of our checks on Sutton & East Surrey Water PLCplc during 1998. and should be read in conjunction with DWI's "How Good is the Drinking Water ?" leaflet which is available from us free of charge.
Sutton & East Surrey Water continues to supply you with drinking water of a high quality. In 1998, 99.35% of more than 23,700 tests met the standards. This is below the overall figure for England and Wales of 99.78%.
None of the failures in 1998 were likely to harm consumers’ health. We assessed each one and, where necessary, we have required Sutton and East Surrey Water to take action to prevent further failures.
Although the 1998 results are good, we know that there are some matters of everyday concern to consumers. These are detailed below including the steps taken by Sutton & East Surrey Water to improve its performance.
2. Bacteria
Whenever bacteria are found in water samples Sutton and East Surrey Water investigates immediately.
Occasionally low numbers of bacteria were detected in the water leaving a small number of water treatment works during 1998. The bacteria found were not harmful to consumers’ health. There has been a significant decrease over the past three years in the number of samples from treatment works and service reservoirs in which coliforms were detected. The number of bacteriological failures at consumers’ taps remains similar to recent years at 0.5% of the samples taken. Many of these failures may be due to the condition of the tap and not the water itself.
3. Pesticides
Sutton and East Surrey Water carried out more than 3,400 tests for individual pesticides during 1998 and all met the stringent standard. This reflects the significant investment in recent years to install treatment to remove pesticides from drinking water.
4. Lead
Sutton and East Surrey Water continues to have samples occasionally failing the standard for lead, even where additional treatment has been installed to reduce the amount of lead picked up by water from pipework. In all cases the householder has been informed of the problem. The Drinking Water Inspectorate advises consumers living in properties with lead pipes to seek advice from their water company. A DWI leaflet about lead in drinking water is also available from us free of charge.
5. Iron and Manganese and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH)
These three parameters provide a good indication of the overall condition of the mains used to distribute drinking water through the region.
The number of samples failing the standard for iron is similar to 1997 but no samples failed the standard for manganese during the past three years. No samples failed to meet the standard for PAH during 1998. This is an overall improvement and reflects the impact of the programme of work being carried out by Sutton & East Surrey Water to renovate its distribution system. The programme of improvement is ongoing, with Sutton and East Surrey Water being required to renovate more than 202 km of mains by 2005.
6. Cryptosporidium
Cryptosporidium is a tiny micro-organism which can sometimes cause a form of diarrhoea called cryptosporidiosis. No instances were reported to the Inspectorate of the detection of Cryptosporidium in water leaving Sutton & East Surrey Water’s water treatment works during 1998.
Water companies will shortly be required to sample continuously and analyse daily for Cryptosporidium in the treated water at theirtheir most vulnerable sites. It will be an offence if they fail to meet a new treatment standard.
7. Drinking Water Quality Incidents
In May 1998 a supply of water containing entrapped air was supplied to consumers in Wallington & Beddington areas following planned work on part of the distribution system. The Company has subsequently reviewed its procedures to reduce the risk of a similar incident recurring.
8. Prosecutions
Following an investigation of the supply of water containing chalk particles to parts of Carshalton in May and June 1996, Sutton and East Surrey Water admitted the offence of supplying water unfit for human consumption. The Company was fined a total of £5,000 at Sutton Magistrates Court in October 1998. The Company has subsequently taken remedial action to prevent the incident from recurring.
9. Determinations in 1998
Parameter
Total
Contravening PCV No % Coliforms 1683 9 0.5 Faecal coliforms 1680 2 0.1 Colour 274 0 0.0 Turbidity 640 2 0.3 Odour 193 0 0.0 Taste 193 0 0.0 Hydrogen ion 1168 0 0.0 Nitrate 274 0 0.0 Nitrite 597 122 20.4 Aluminium 274 0 0.0 Iron 583 12 2.1 Manganese 119 0 0.0 Lead 394 1 0.3 PAH 127 0 0.0 Trihalomethanes 114 0 0.0 Total pesticides 280 0 0.0 Atrazine 280 0 0.0 Other pesticides 3130 0 0.0 Benzo 3,4 pyrene 127 1 0.8 Tetrachloroethene 114 1 0.9 All others 2962 0 0.0 Total 15206 150 1.0
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Drinking Water Inspectorate,
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Updated 11 July 2001
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