Cogent, the sector skills council for scientific industry are holding a Water Treatment Industry open meeting at:
Holiday Inn, East Kilbride on the 21st and 22nd July 2010.
The meeting is your opportunity to have a direct input to the National Vocational Qualification for Water Treatment currently being developed by Cogent in partnership with a steering group of industry representatives. For more information or to sign up for the event email
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The UK press, inluding the BBC, the Telegraph, and the Daily Mail are reporting today that the UK Health Protection Agency (HPA) is warning that Legionella may grow in windscreen (windshield for any American readers) wash bottles and may be responsible for some of the cases of Legionnaires’ disease seen each year amongst “professional drivers”. At first this sounds like a typical media scare story - however there may be some credibility it it: the washbottle in most cars or vans will get warm when the engine is running for long periods, warm enough for bacteria to grow but not hot enough to start killing them. The materials inside the wash bottle, pump and tubing were probably not designed with bacterial growth supression in mind and so will provide an excellent environment for biofilm to develop, whilst anyone who has filled a wash bottle will know it is very easy to get some general dirt and grime into the filler providing ideal nutrients for the bacteria. There is no doubt that the spray onto your windscreen will generate an aerosol which can then be drawn in through open vents or windows.
We’ve not seen the details of the study, only the press reports, which suggest that 20% of sporadic Legionnaires’ cases may be attributed to this source. If this number turns out to be true that is a significant finding.
The good news for car drivers, or companies who own vehicles and are now worried about the safety of their drivers, is that the solution appears to be very simple - add normal screenwash to the water.
Physicists working at Harvard, have gained a better understanding on how bubbles burst and this may have important implications for understanding aerosol formation, especially in pools and spas. They reported their findings in Nature. However for those of us who don’t subscribe to Nature, the BBC has helpfully summarised the article, including a high speed video of bubbles actually bursting.
Water on offshore platforms, and the support vessels working in the North Sea is usually held in large tanks which must last for several days or weeks between refills. Inevitably this leads to stagnation and the potential for bacterial growth. However the same regulations apply offshore and operators must assess and control that risk. Their challenge is compounded by aging infrastructure and the physical issues of getting equipment offshore to service and maintain the equipment. We’ve seen recent interest from a number of operators in using our fast on-site legionella test, to help them make better decisions about Legionella control where otherwise they need to fly samples ashore by helichopter and then wait upto 2 weeks for the test results using traditional methods.
Following some significant changes to hydrosense the blog will now discuss more than just legionella - and cover a whole range of water related issues. So to get us started - there is no bigger issue than running out of water, which Scotland’s new on-line newspaper is discussing today. Not in Scotland of course, with our rainfall that would be just outrageous - but in Cyprus. The economic impact of water availability will we believe make water the “new oil” in the 21st century.
We reported a few weeks ago that a woman had been awarded half a million pounds compensation for being infected with Legionnaires’ disease. Not surprisingly the insurers of the now defunct hotel are looking to avoid paying out. They are using an exclusion within their insurance, that says they are not liable for loss caused by bacteria or fungi. Its not clear how common such a clause is in US policies - but if insurers are able to exclude Legionella risks, will this make US building owners sit up and take responsibility for their water systems? Probably not, as in this case the hotel has already gone out of business and so the loser will be the ‘victim’ rather than hotel opperators.
The victim’s own lawyers are arguing that the exclusion “does not apply to goods or products for use for human consumption”. I can see an interesting court case developing here - arguing whether the water that infected their client was indeed intended for human consumption. Given that hot water systems are more commonly the problem than cold water systems; and that hot water is not intended for consumption - this story may not be over yet.
