Legionnaires Disease Prevention, Testing and Remediation
It is vitally important that as part of a complete maintenance program, regular testing for Legionella bacteria be carried out.
Whilst difficult to culture in lab conditions, a poorly-maintained water system is the ideal breeding ground for legionella pneumophila, along with other harmful bacteria, such as E-coli.
Although difficult to contract, Legionnaire's Disease can be fatal, and often has long-lasting or permanent side-effects.
This has been highlighted several times over the years, most recently with the unfortunate deaths of 7 people, and the critical illness of 180 others, in August 2002 at Barrow.
It is therefore of prime importance that consideration is given to minimising, and hopefully eliminating the risks on any given water system.
Water Treatment Risk Assessment
It is a legal requirement that all water services have a Legionella Risk Assessment carried out every two years.
With the aim of practical compliance with the Health & Safety document "L8-The Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems", one of our trained assessors will visit site, and perform a comprehensive survey of all water systems, from their source through to point of use.
A detailed report will then be issued, outlining safe operating procedures for equipment on site, testing programmes, sampling frequencies and a schematic drawing of all water systems.
Based on the level of risk shown by the Assessment, Pennine Water Treatment Services may recommend a range of remedial actions, in order for you to comply with the law.
Water Sterilisation
Pennine Water Treatment Services undertake sterilisations of all domestic water installations. Sterilisation of new water services is not only good practice, but essential in many systems, particularly those incorporating any degree of stored water.
Pennine Water Treatment Services technicians work to British Standard 6700:1997, using Sodium Hypochlorite, which at 50 parts per million plus of free chlorine reduces contact time to just one hour.
All of Pennine Water Treatment Services technicians are also fully trained in the safe use and handling of chlorine dioxide, as an alternative chlorinating agent.
Bacteriological Testing
As part of British Standard 6700:1997, it is compulsory to take water samples from each sterilised system, for Bacteriological Analysis.
Pennine Water Treatment Services take our sealed samples to a local independent public analyst, (who is UKAS approved for calibration and testing), where monitoring takes place under strict guidelines.
Samples are also taken on a routine basis as part of planned maintenance programs, ensuring that potential problems can be quickly identified, and remedied, before a full-scale outbreak can occur.
Samples can also be taken for metallurgical analysis, particularly to check the levels of iron, lead and copper in potable water, as high levels can cause many health problems.
Tank Cleaning
It is recommended that all water storage tanks be cleaned at least once per annum, or more frequently where stagnation or sedimentation is a problem.
Using submersible pumps, wet-vacs and non-abrasive cleaning materials, Pennine Water Treatment Services will undertake to clean any sized tank, where possible outside of normal working hours to minimise disruption to water users.
Following cleaning, it is recommended that the tank and all associated down-services be chlorinated, and thoroughly flushed out to remove any debris disturbed during the cleaning process.
Pre-commission Cleaning
Pennine Water Treatment Services work to the latest BSRIA guidelines, offering a service for the Pre-commission Cleaning of Pipework Systems, and chemical cleaning of existing systems.
Using non-acidic cleaners, which will not attack materials of construction but will remove cutting oil, jointing paste, mill scale and other material residue in a system, pipework can be cleaned giving optimum flow-rates for commissioning.
After cleaning, the system can then be dosed to correct levels with a suitable corrosion inhibitor and biocide treatment.
The system is thus protected, giving the client value for money as his system will have extremely low rates of corrosion & scaling, resulting in higher energy efficiency, translating to lower running costs and a longer operational lifespan of the system.
It is recommended that treated systems be checked on at least an annual basis, to ensure correct treatment reserves are maintained.
Pennine Water Treatment Services offer a free consultation visit to site prior to commencement of works, to advise on correct placement of all required flushing & filling points, and placement of blanks and bypasses.
Water Treatment Chemicals & Equipment
Pennine Water Treatment Services supply a large range of water treatment chemicals for use in such systems as low pressure hot water, chilled water, cooling towers and steam boilers, along with associated dosing and control equipment, including chemical dosing pots, dosing pumps, meters and time-based controllers, water softeners, de-ionisers and bleed off/blow-down controllers.
Pennine Water Treatment Services also deal with specialist chemicals, such as mono-ethylene glycol(MEG) and mono-propylene glycol(MPG), for use in chilled water systems, and can arrange supply, delivery and installation to site.
