Water hygiene for council homes

Water hygiene is important in properties as it helps to avoid contracting Legionnaires' disease. It is important to prevent the Legionella bacteria from breeding in water supplies within council homes.

Understanding how this can happen and how to prevent it is essential in meeting our regulatory and statutory requirements.

Avoiding Legionnaires' disease

The most common way of being exposed to the Legionella bacteria is from tiny water droplets from cooling towers, hot tubs, showers and taps.

Legionella bacteria could potentially form in:

• poorly fitted water systems
• little-used outlets that haven’t been flushed through
• dead ends in pipework
• refrigeration water dispensers

Anyone can get Legionnaires' disease, but it most commonly affects the elderly, people with chest and lung conditions, or people with other serious health conditions. It is not contagious and you cannot get it from drinking water. 

The symptoms of Legionnaires' disease can include:

• high temperature
• fever or chills
• headache
• tiredness
• muscle pain
• dry cough

If you think that you or someone in your home has Legionnaires' disease, contract your doctor immediately.

Water safety checks

To ensure we meet our obligations as landlord, we will:

• carry out regular risk assessments to identify the level of risk and implement a regime of shared water systems
• carry out routine monitoring, temperature checks and sampling as required by the risk assessment
• undertake planned works to upgrade systems and reduce or remove risks of legionella developing

Any checks in communal areas will be undertaken at regular intervals and are unlikely to be notified to tenants. We may place a notice on a communal noticeboard to alert tenants to a visit.

Where access to the property is needed, you will be notified within a reasonable time unless it is an emergency situation. We ask that all council tenants make every effort to support this.

Advice on preventing legionella bacteria in water systems

Properties are more at risk if they have been left for more than a week without the supplies running. You can help reduce the risk of legionella developing by following these steps:

• Run taps and outlets regularly (for at least 3 minutes).
• Hold the shower head over a drain to reduce the risk of inhaling water droplets, then run it for a few minutes.
• Flush the toilet twice with the lid down.
• Regularly clean and descale shower heads and taps to prevent limescale and build up of bacteria. Using bleach or anti-bacterial cleaner will help.
• Report any faults, heating or water concerns immediately.
• Drain hosepipes after use and keep out of direct sunlight. Flush into a drain in well-ventilated space to avoid breathing in droplets.
• Seek advice if you purchase or use a hot tub, spa or pools as these have a heightened risk. Always follow the manufacturer's instructions.
• Increasing water temperature helps to reduce risk of bacteria build up, but can lead to increase risk of burns and scalding.