Drinking water and user hygiene.
Maintaining water quality in buildings.
Drinking water is essential for life itself. And is the only resource supplied to each and every building. After no more than 72 hours, however, the high quality of the water supplied by the utility can already be lost. This problem can be avoided by the regular exchange of water across all tapping points in a building. Responsibility here is shared equally by architects, technical planners, plumbers and fitters, and the building operators.
Drinking water has a use-by date.
The German Federal Environment Agency advises consumers to discard drinking water intended for human consumption after just 4 hours. This is because bacteria in the water can multiply exponentially. While low levels of bacteria are typically harmless and even normal, larger populations can be harmful to health.Excessive levels of bacteria can be found in water especially after long periods spent in building supply systems.
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Legal background
Building operators need to act.
The German Drinking Water Ordinance (section 13) cites the technical codes and specifies that every operator of a drinking water installation is also responsible for the regular exchange of water after 72 hours – and across all tapping points. A failure to do this constitutes a regulatory infringement (section 72). If pathogenic bacteria are also found in the drinking water, this is a criminal offence (section 71) – even if no-one actually falls ill.
Maintaining water quality
Legally compliant water exchanges.
Drinking water maintains its high level of quality when cold water does not become warmer than 25 °C and hot water does not cool below 55 °C – anywhere in the installation. In addition, a complete exchange of water must take place every 72 hours – and even during holiday periods, etc. This is especially important to avoid the excessive spread of bacteria, as these kinds of interruptions in use can leave water in piping for very long periods of time.
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Your contact
“I’ve got the best job in the world: I get to work with technical planners, plumbers and fitters, and building operators to manage the supply of drinking water in buildings. For more than 20 years, I’ve also been working to ensure knowledge transfer from research and practice into technical codes, and helping develop innovative products. I’m passionate about sharing information on drinking water in both talks and trade publications.
My name is Peter Arens. At SCHELL, I’m the company’s resident expert on drinking water hygiene, offering support to my colleagues and advice to our valued customers. I very much look forward to talking to you!”
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