Louse In Drinking Water

[ditchcrawler]

50 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

If the tap gets tested and is found to have a problem which do you think is more likely to happen?

1. Extra water treatment is installed, so the water reaching the tap is free of bugs.
2. A sign placed on the tap saying it is Non Potable Water.
3. The tap is removed completely.

Answers on a post card...

The Broads Authority went for No.2

[MtB]

50 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

If the tap gets tested and is found to have a problem which do you think is more likely to happen?

1. Extra water treatment is installed, so the water reaching the tap is free of bugs.
2. A sign placed on the tap saying it is Non Potable Water.
3. The tap is removed completely.

Answers on a post card...

 

I'd say it depends on where it is. 

 

If London: 3

If Braunston: 3

If K&A: 3

If Sowerby Bridge: 3

Anywhere else: 3

 

Hope that helps...

 

 

[pearley]

7 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

This is what the strainer ahead of the water pump is for. So you don't find out what is living in your water tank! Out of sight, out of mind.

The water has to be healthy, if there are so many wriggly things happily living in it.

I've read the OP's post a couple of times and can't decide if they are saying the bugs are coming straight from the shore water point, or from the on-board tank.

We fit washing machine filters in our Hozelock connectors. They just replace the pre fitted washer.

[Momac]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Thats my thoughts as well, When I see people refilling bottle from the tap because they wont drink out of the tank I wonder how well and often they sterilise those bottles 

I never sterilise the water bottles but they get a flush at most refills and I replace them annually.

But not sure how sterilising would help here at the critters are in the water supply.

 

 

[Ronaldo47]

Several decades ago there was a serious infestation of harmless freshwater shrimps in the water mains in the Southend area of Essex that actually made it to the national TV news.  My friends were living in the affected area  at the time, and they used to filter their tap water until the water company sterilsed and flushed out the mains. I could't find anything about it on Google just now, but it did turn up some info from Essex Water about water treatment. The issues with shrimps and other, harmless, animals that can sometimes find their way into water mains and live there happily, and how they can be  eradicated,  are discussed in detail  towards the end. 

 

link here:

  https://essexwatersupply.com/water-treatment-and-purification/

Edited February 25 by Ronaldo47
typos

[blackrose]

I once found a small freshwater shrimp about 1cm long in the bottom of my kitchen sink near the plug hole and I assumed it had somehow found its way into the skin fitting from the outside and up the short waste pipe (no trap), but perhaps not? If it was from my tank I don't know how it would have got through the pump strainer? I've seen plenty of them outside on the boat. Any fender or rope that's been dangling in the water will likely have some attached if you look carefully enough, sometimes even above the waterline if it's been wet for some time.

 

How they're getting into what's supposed to be a potable water supply I don't know. Has this happened more than once? As it's been very wet recently are you sure they weren't somewhere around the tap itself on an old rope or rag and have been knocked from above into your jar as you filled it? I'd inspect the tap area very carefully and see if it happens again.

Edited February 25 by blackrose

[Momac]

Perhaps the matter  should perhaps be reported to C&RT given  the source is via  a C&RT  water point .  

 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

16 hours ago, wandering snail said:

..........In embryo form they pass through the 5 micron filtration.................

 

This is quite a coarse filter - my filter is '1 micron absolute' which means the biggest 'hole' in the filter is 1 micron, most will be smaller.

When the term (say)  '5 micron filter' is used it is 'indicative' & generally means that the nominal size 'hole' is 5 microns but larger sized holes are still within specification.

 

My 1 Micron filter :

 

* The filter removes 99.99999% of all bacteria, such as salmonella, cholera and E.coli; removes 99.9999% of all protozoa, such as giardia and cryptosporidium...

* High performance filter, filters up to 100,000 gallons (30 times more than comparable filters)...

 

At a recommended 'gallon per day' of drinking water it will last me about 270 years.

Obviously it is not a commercial model and the water cos would be supplying millions of gallons per day - hence their use of more coarse filters and need to add bug-killing chemicals

 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Momac said:

Perhaps the matter  should perhaps be reported to C&RT given  the source is via  a C&RT  water point .  

 

 

 

I think we discussed the outcome of that idea earlier

[Hudds Lad]

16 hours ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

 

If the tap gets tested and is found to have a problem which do you think is more likely to happen?

1. Extra water treatment is installed, so the water reaching the tap is free of bugs.
2. A sign placed on the tap saying it is Non Potable Water.
3. The tap is removed completely.

Answers on a post card...

 

4. Handle removed and tap wrapped in copious amounts of yellow & black tape from the back of the van and then left in never-to-be-fixed limbo.

[Momac]

4 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think we discussed the outcome of that idea earlier

I don't think the problem is likely to be confined to one water point. 

So the issue should be reported .

 

[Wanderer Vagabond]

Just out of curiosity, looking at your photo with these little critters on their backs with their legs in the air, are they actually alive? To my totally untrained eye they look like dead woodlice. The water to your water point doesn't come through a cistern anywhere does it where the little blighters might fall in and drown.

[RooF]

Yes good point, they are dead

[haggis]

What water point are you using? It looks highly suspect to me !

[Tracy D'arth]

Don't tell C&RT, they will charge you extra for the protein!

[Ronaldo47]

Here's some screenshots from the article I provided a link to last Saturday. It mentions that the water louse can thrive in water mains,  and does resemble a terrestrial woodlouse.

 

The local water company should apparently be contacted about this sort if problem, always assuming that the water does come from a public supply.

 

 

 

Edited February 26 by Ronaldo47
typos

[jonathanA]

a friend of mine worked for the local water company as an electrician and when ever asked he always said he worked with the 'dirty stuff' - you mean sewage ?- no potable water.....  it doesn't pay to look too closely into water mains, holding tanks and such like. 

[ditchcrawler]

42 minutes ago, jonathanA said:

a friend of mine worked for the local water company as an electrician and when ever asked he always said he worked with the 'dirty stuff' - you mean sewage ?- no potable water.....  it doesn't pay to look too closely into water mains, holding tanks and such like. 

The crap that comes out when they flush the mains.

[Wanderer Vagabond]

On 26/02/2024 at 16:29, Ronaldo47 said:

Here's some screenshots from the article I provided a link to last Saturday. It mentions that the water louse can thrive in water mains,  and does resemble a terrestrial woodlouse.

 

The local water company should apparently be contacted about this sort if problem, always assuming that the water does come from a public supply.

 

 

 

It sounds, from the OP that the critters in his jar are dead whereas, as you say water louse can thrive in water. I'm kind of guessing but whatever they are in his jar don't seem to enjoy being in water.

[ditchcrawler]

19 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

It sounds, from the OP that the critters in his jar are dead whereas, as you say water louse can thrive in water. I'm kind of guessing but whatever they are in his jar don't seem to enjoy being in water.

Thats the trouble with photos , you cant tell if they are moving

[Morris]

I agree with Mr Vagabond, they look like dead woodlice.

You wouldn't generally see them crawling about as they like to find dark damp places to hide. Not sure what they do there. Win at hide and seek maybe.

Do you run the tap a bit first before filling the jar? 

[magnetman]

The OP said they are dead but one wonders if he checked. 

 

 

Maybe the air bubbles are from something else

Edited February 27 by magnetman

[Chris Lowe]

2 hours ago, Morris said:

I agree with Mr Vagabond, they look like dead woodlice.

You wouldn't generally see them crawling about as they like to find dark damp places to hide. Not sure what they do there. Win at hide and seek maybe.

Do you run the tap a bit first before filling the jar? 

Look a bit big for woodlouse (cheesehogs)

[Wanderer Vagabond]

24 minutes ago, Chris Lowe said:

Look a bit big for woodlouse (cheesehogs)

What are you comparing them with in the photo? Are those really small bubbles photographed up close? or really big bubbles and those critters are scarily big

[GUMPY]

1 hour ago, Chris Lowe said:

Look a bit big for woodlouse (cheesehogs)

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-53308981