Posted By Chas This is one aimed at those of you who are involved in the education environment. Does anyone know of any specific legislation that requires the testing of drinking water, ie water that comes from the kitchen taps. I'm not talking about testing water that may come from a stored hot or cold source (ie legionella, TVC testing), I'm talking about testing water on a regular basis for drinking quality in a school environment. Thanks, in anticipation.....

Posted By Merv Newman In my youth, about 40 years ago, I was a chemist/bacteriologist for the colne valley (north west london and suburbs) water co. Every morning we drove out into the area and collected about 20 samples direct from household kitchen taps. Knock knock : can I have a sample of your water please missus ? In the afternoon we set up the bacterial tests (took three days to get results) and ran the chemical analyses. That was the quality control then. I suppose it is the same or similar today. In the UK I would be quite happy with anything that came out of the kitchen cold tap which is always(?) connected directly to the mains supply. However, if you have a holding tank, as most households do in the loft, I would not be so sure. These usually supply the bathroom cold tap and any ho[expletive deleted]er system. A similar arrangement could be found in a public building, school or factory. Best to check the layout.

Posted By Paul Swift Coincidentally a similar question was asked of me yesterday. Having now suffered one major and one minor flood due to leaks from our water coolers, it has been suggested that we throw them out and let people get their drinking water from the taps, fed directly from the mains (as they would probably do at home). If we decide to use this option, do we need to have proof that we have checked the water is safe to drink (bearing in mind we are located in the suburbs of capital city) or is it enough to assume that the water supply is safe when fed directly from the mains?

Posted By Pat Hannaway Hi Chas, I work in the water industry. Your local Water Utility has to maintain a Statutory register of water quality test results. They take regular, numerous samples from customers taps across their supply area on a daily basis. If you give them a call, they will be able to supply you with results of samples taken from your locality within the past year. Usually their Water Quality report are normally free, unless you request large numbers of reports . (Also ask for their guidlines on interpretation of results, normally a small booklet). Regards Pat H

Posted By Mike The water undertaker (supplier) is obliged by law to test the water every day at a selection of customer taps in every zone. The supplier must also "publish" the test results, but don't expect these to be on-line at their website. You will only find a summary there. It can be a struggle to get actual test results for your zone, but it may be beside the point for microbiological tests because when they sample for coliform bacteria they clean out the end of the customer tap first and flush. After all they are only interested in proving the quality of their supply. Some water companies recommend customers to occasionally disinfect the end of their mains taps, particularly if they are hot/cold mixers. All EU member states must comply with the same drinking water framework law. The (Engand and Wales) version is on the Drinking Water Inspectorate website. This specifies the parameters to be tested and how zones are defined, among other things. If you do get private testing done, in my opinion it's the tap that should be wipe tested, not the water.

Posted By Ron Young Chas, Thanks for this. Now, forgetting the "your risk assessment will identify" clan, would you think this was best practice or a legal requirement.

Posted By John Beadle A couple of years ago, after some concerns by staff about the quality of the water, I contacted the local water company (Yorkshire Water). They came onto the premises and tested the water actually coming out of the taps we used. A report was issued and all users of the water were then safisfied of its quality. At that time there was no cost. Give them a call and see what their responce is. John