Blog
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Leptospirosis (Weils Disease) – General Information
If you haven’t heard of this one, you should be aware of what it is and what it can do. Leptospirosis (Weils Disease) is a possibly fatal disease which can be spread by rat urine in river and canal water. Four people have died from it in the last five years, including an Olympic rower and an acquaintance of mine who lived on a canal boat. You can see the water connection here. The disease is treatable if diagnosed …
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Legionnaire’s Disease (again). It’s still there!
Yes. It’s still there! Don’t relax your guard! In the USA, Alabama, it has been reported that several members of a girls’ softball team became very ill and tested positive for Legionnaire’s Disease after a weekend stay in a hotel complex. The complex is now being sued for a lot of money by a local law firm. In the region of Waterloo (Canada, Ontario) two men are reported to have died from Legionnaire’s Disease. Recently in the UK four cases …
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Chlorination of Water Services
Chlorination of water services is usually the last water related operation carried out before a plumbing job is handed over. In essence, chlorinated water is flushed through the pipework which is then left to stand for a set period of time. This pipework is then flushed out. After flushing, the samples are taken for laboratory tests. If the job has not been done properly, the samples can fail. If we have a failure, we do the job again FOC. In …
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Home birthing pools
These are home based pools, independently heated, which are used for home births. It has been reported that this week a newborn baby acquired Legionnaires disease from a home birthing pool. This is the first incident of this type ever reported and it is very rare for young children to catch Legionnaires disease. The NHS, as a precaution, issued a warning that for the time being, home birthing pools are not to be used for labour of birth. A risk …
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Water Temperature Control and Legionella
The Legionella bacterium likes water temperature in the 37º region (ie blood temperature). Most bacteria are killed off at 50º but Legionella can go on to 55º. It follows, therefore, that you need to keep stored hot water at 60º to be safe. Stored water in roof tanks can get hotter than desirable in the summer which is why cold water tanks in roofs are (should be) lagged. The water in roof tanks will not get all that warm …
