Many of us have some time to think about the current pandemic facing our world and how it might affect our personal situation. The media regularly shares information about social distancing along with proper sanitation and hygiene, but less attention is paid to other vectors for the transmission of viruses. The CDC has a great resource on other vectors for Covid Virus transmission here!

Today’s blog is for people that want to protect their own private water supply and for individuals interested in learning how their local water supplier ensures that pathogenic organisms are removed and/or inactivated.

Ensuring that water is clean to drink comes in several forms:

1) Prevention

This step is incredibly important! Water companies that rely on surface water often fence the reservoirs from animals and take other measures to ensure fertilizers or other chemicals cannot get into their water supply.

For people with wells, springs or tanks proper prevention means:

• Selecting a quality well driller that can help select an appropriate site and install a well with proper bentonite or sand/cement grout seal to ensure runoff and rain don’t get into the aquifer.

• Installing submersible well pumps with proper attention to sanitation and hygiene. Wire, pipe, and pump should be properly cleaned and the well disinfected and flushed before being put into service. Oakville Pump Service has these processes in our STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE to ensure our customers have pure, clean water flowing from their tap.

• Ensure that water tanks have proper lids and screening to keep critters out!

• When possible, springs should have diversion channels above the collection box to ensure runoff doesn’t get into the spring box. Spring boxes/enclosures should be tight and not allow the entry of rodents, lizards or other animals.

• Observing building codes that require sewer tanks and leach lines to be separated from water sources.

2) Filtration

This step uses screens, finely graded sands, woven fibers or even membranes to catch particulate matter in the water supply. Not only does removing this particulate matter improve the visual aesthetics of the water, but it can also remove a significant amount of the pathogenic organisms present. The pathogenic organisms are often on or in the particulate matter that is filtered out in this step, but keeps in mind…pathogens are very small and some can slip through the cracks!

3) Disinfection

Disinfection ensures that pathogens that are in the water are destroyed. These pathogens come in the forms of bacteria, viruses, cysts & other micro-organisms. Disinfection should always be implemented with attention to both the prevention and filtration steps already outlined!. Several disinfection technologies are available and, in some cases, more than one type is implemented to ensure complete removal/deactivation of all pathogenic organisms!

Chlorine (or one of its derivatives) is one of the most common disinfectants used. Chlorine is added to the water in measured amounts designed to kill bacteria and at the same time not present health risks to humans or animals. Once the chlorine has been added to the water it takes proper mixing and about 20 minutes of contact time for the disinfection process to occur. Trace amounts of free chlorine in the water ensure that the water stays clean and free of pathogens as it travels through the piping networks to various houses. This residual chlorine can leave residual tastes or odors. In some cases, granular activated charcoal is used to remove the chlorine from the water after the disinfection process to help with the taste and odor problems associated with Chlorine.

Ozone can be dissolved in water and is very effective at destroying pathogenic organisms. Ozone works very quickly at disinfection and breaks down rather quickly after it does its job, leaving no taste or odors. While improved taste and odor are a great pro, the fact that the ozone has a very short half life means that it doesn’t have the capacity to keep disinfecting for more than a few minutes.

Water is passed in close proximity to very high-intensity Ultraviolet light. This high-intensity light can kill/inactivate many pathogenic organisms to the extent that they can no longer function or harm us if we ingest them. Ultraviolet light disinfection requires the water to be clean and clear to function properly and it doesn’t use any chemicals or change the taste or odor of the water.

4) Testing

Testing water is a key component to ensure the removal of pathogenic organisms. Water systems regularly test their customer’s water to see if there are organisms in it. Water systems also tested for levels of chlorine. Low levels of chlorine can indicate problems with the disinfection equipment. Low chlorine levels can also indicate that some process is consuming the disinfectant that should be present in the water. In either case, the water system operators can use the chlorine levels to investigate and correct potential problems before they become real problems!

If you have a well or spring in the Napa Valley and want to ensure that clean water is coming out of your tap, give our talented team at Oakville Pump Service a call today at (707) 944-2471! Our team regularly works with chlorine, ozone, and ultraviolet water purification systems to ensure your well and spring water are pathogen-free when water comes out of the tap. If you live in Angwin, Pope Valley or from Calistoga to Napa; give the OPS team a call today to ensure that clean pure water is what flows from your water tap!