Water Quality Testing

My focus is providing environmental services, being it in testing and advice (both scientific and paralegal). The water is part of almost all environments and therefore it takes the first spot in the testing and consulting services of my firm. My aim is to provide the service to the private water supply with singular domestic users in England first and as such the quality of drinking water is the main issue.

Drinking water

Drinking water is determined in the Water Quality Regulations 2016. These requirements are slightly different for Private Water Supplies if they are stored in bottles or containers. Particularly, there is a focus on the faecal bacteria (Enterococci and Escherichia Coli must show no findings in 250 ml instead of 100 ml) and also there is a limit of 100 colonies in one ml of the tested water after a set amount of time in 22 °C. In case of mains drinking water supplies, it is the water companies which are obliged to control the quality of water for domestic use. In the case of private water supplies (water wells, boreholes, springs, etc.), the local authority (council) has this burden of controlling the quality of drinking water. Currently, councils in England are not obliged to pay for the water quality testing of the privately supplied households. The prices vary region to region, since the local councils have only a maximum limit how much they may ask for, however, it could be anywhere between £300 and £1000 depending on the range of required tests. All private water supplies should be reported to the council. The council must enforce its water quality tests, unless the private water supply is used by just one domestic user who owns this property.

Therefore, if the council or water company controls your water supply you may leave this issue with them, unless the taste, smell or colour of the appearance of the water is a cause of concern, then you should report this issue. If you own your property and have sole access to a private water supply, then you might have a chance to save some money on the council affiliated testing. It would be irresponsible though, to recommend you avoid any control. There are multiple tests available online to buy online, such as the colourful water testing strips and also some photometric devices. The water testing strips should be the first call to establish whether there is a concern. You should choose a test, which controls as many attributes as possible (16 tests on one strip is a good range) and also it should be focused on the drinking water. There are some drinking water testing strips kits out there, which will provide you with 25 such strips and two tests for faecal bacteria. The price of such a kit could be under £25 and could therefore save you lots of money and worries.

You may find out that your water passes every requirement. Then, Great! But remember that water quality varies during seasons, and you may need to do these tests regularly. In the meantime, I would suggest boiling the water before consumption. In case that you had some bacteria in your water, boiling will help too, however, you could also consider some sort of water treatment. I am not going to dedicate my services to the various filter options on the market, however, the bacteria do not handle chlorine very well and therefore NaDCC tablets could be a good and cost effective solution for you. If you use NaDCC tablets or other disinfectant for your private water supply, use a product which is produced for the purpose and follow the instructions. Chlorine is not on the drinking water regulations, but the <2mg/l as a rule of the thumb from the Butyl Products Ltd company instructions should not be understated. Drinking bacteria is not healthy and neither is drinking bleach.

You may also find out that your water source does not fulfil some chemical requirements of the drinking water. In that case you may need a higher investment, to treat your water at home. In some cases, avoiding cooking or drinking it could be a cost-effective solution. There are some filter solutions out there which should work for you. I do not want to affiliate with these businesses, because it would inevitably lead to conflict of interest. The higher the reward, the more incentivised I would be to recommend that device. There might be a scale of procedure of what to do to remedy the water quality, this depends on your chemical composition.

Special consideration I would have on the reverse osmosis filters. There are many reasons to use it to remove chemical burden from your water, however, how long will this system remain efficient will depend on the level of pollution. From what I know, there is a system of filters which ends with a reverse osmosis filter, which removes all the contaminants and then there are subsequent filters, which aim to improve the taste and smell of the water. Thinking about it, I wonder how anybody would find out if the reverse osmosis filter started to fail?... supposedly the taste and smell improvers would still function for some time. Furthermore, supposing it is maintained properly, is the reverse osmosis system a reasonable cost-effective solution? Astronauts are recycling their urine through such systems, as it is necessary to make drinking water sustainable there. It does not seem to me as a reasonable solution on the ground - I cannot imagine anyone using reverse osmosis in England to drink sewage water.

There might be specific solutions for different contaminations, and therefore I would warn you off the solves-them-all-devices. If you order a testing of your water quality from me, then I will provide you with my analysis of your particular situation and I will try to opine with the best possible treatment. In case, my testing cannot be provided, I will still assist you with my consultation service if you can provide a recent result of your water. Please, bear in mind that my consultation services are not free. Otherwise, I will try to provide general guidance here on this website.

Air Quality Testing

Air quality in England is generally better than in some other parts of the world and much better than it used to be. I am based in Wednesbury, which is in the heart of Black Country. The Black Country earned its name with its coal mining and adjacent iron industries of the 19th century. The deindustrialisation of this region meant an improvement of the air quality and public health. However, there are situations when some industries still ruthlessly burn plastics or wastes for everyone to breathe. The tolerance of these practices is now fortunately more limited than before.

For Example, there is a principle of traditional use of the neighbourhood area. It will be more difficult to convince the court that the long standing business is causing an air quality disruption, if your interest in the neighbourhood is younger than that business. There might still be a fine on the business if there is a reckless action on their part or the pollution is simply unbearable. It might also help, if your property in the neighbourhood was raised on a former abandoned land - brownfield... These developments have a priority before a new development on the greenfield. The local council should therefore be motivated to support your claims of air pollution nuisance.

The evidence could simply be in the witness statements of neighbours; however, these might differ depending on the wind direction, proximity and conflicting interests. Your local authority will be obliged to respond in case there is enough of a concern of the neighbourhood. This might be simply through reporting to the council and if this leads nowhere, a petition of the neighbours and interested parties may be needed. But bear in mind that on a windy day your council's response team may not arrive on time when the damage is being done.

I am providing a service, where I will measure the air quality in the area and provide you with clear results on the air quality of the surroundings. It is a premium service, and therefore you should consider it with the most notorious offenders only.

Radon

There are many households in the UK, which are exposed to Radon. This gas very slowly leaks to the houses through the soil. The radioactivity exposure is very little as it is a rare gas, but only little is required for development of health issues in the long-term. The UK Health Security Agency provides risk assessments for your property and tests at affordable prices to every household which requests assistance. The sample collection takes 3 months, because the levels of exposure are so low and because they vary depending on the weather. You should note that in case a basement premise is occupied for more than 50 hours per year it should be monitored regularly.