We underestimate the tenacity of our waterborne pathogens.  They endure.  A recent paper by William Stribling and team from the Multi-Drug-Resistant Organism Repository and Surveillance...

Congratulations to the Royal Society for Public Health who organised an insightful lunchtime webinar on 3rd September 2025 (https://www.rsph.org.uk/events/) delivered by Professor Michael Gormley from...

The Harper Water team are active within Project Water Safety Groups in several new build and refurbishment projects impacting high risk patient groups such as adult and neonatal intensive care...

Flushing outlets within healthcare facilities is a commonly undertaken measure that involves discharging a volume of water – hot and cold – at selected locations as a compensating behaviour and to...

Effective operational management and use of in-premise hot and cold water systems is essential to reduce risk of waterborne pathogen colonisation, amplification and transmission.  The most...

There is much talk about reducing in-premise hot water temperatures in order to save energy and move towards net zero goals.  However, there is little evidence to support adequate control of...

How long does it take for multi-drug resistant organisms to take up residence within environmental reservoirs and niches of newly built healthcare facilities?  Sadly this may be before building...

Multiple studies have identified that handwash basin, sink and shower drains and ubends play a role in the transmission of healthcare-acquired antibiotic-resistant infections, particularly those...

Clinical handwash basins, healthcare sinks and showers along with their u-bends and wastewater drains are not addressed as infection sources.  The plethora of recently published waterborne infection...

Sinkevitch and co-workers from the US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) have recently reported on the investigation into three cases of Mycobacterium abscessus colonisation and/or...

Occasionally a paper pops up which raises a red flag of concern – or in this case pink.  Serratia marcescens belongs to the Enterobacteriacae family and is a common water dweller.  There...

The main focus on fungal contamination within healthcare facilities is directed at air quality and ventilation, however a relatively common source is in-premise water networks.  Fungi can become...

Recent publications have supported recognition of risk relevant to in-premise water services, and this month our attention has been captured by three American publications. Firstly, Najjar-Debbiny et...

The new NHS England publication on “Processes for Managing & Reporting Derogations from Estates Technical Standards & Guidance”...

Ongoing drivers in environmental sustainability have led to pressure and increasing responsibility on building owners and managers to consider energy saving measures during day-to-day operation of...

Evidence linking the role of water services – both potable influent and waste waters – in the transmission of waterborne pathogens such as Legionella pneumophila, Pseudomonas aeruginosa...

The provision of bottled water for patient consumption and assessment of the microbial risk remains a blind spot for infection prevention teams and water safety groups.  Few consider that bottled...

Authors: David Harper & Dr. Catherine Whapham Contamination of Thermostatic Mixer Valve (TMV) Taps In August 2022, Meda & Gentry from Frimley Park Hospital, published a letter in the Journal...

The College of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tongii University, Shanghai (Zhao et al, 2022) have completed an important review and analysis of published literature on the presence of fungi...

Non-Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) are microorganisms which can be found everywhere in our environment, not just in water but in soil, vegetation, aerosols and dust particles.  There are over 170 NTM...

New Learning About Legionella With two new Legionella species discovered within the last 12 months it is clear that we continue to learn about this waterborne bacterium.  Two recently published...

How well do we really understand the multiple factorial parameters that can influence Legionella, Pseudomonas, non-tuberculous mycobacteria, Stenotrophomonas and other waterborne pathogen survival and...

Patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT) are profoundly immunosuppressed.  Their susceptibility to even very low concentrations of environmental microorganisms including waterborne...

The team from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, have recently published on the functionality of Pseudomonas aeruginosa following exposure to...

Until recently it was a rarity to read about Cupriavidus pauculus – an occasional case study perhaps – it was certainly not a waterborne pathogen at the centre of outbreak investigations like...

Water system plastic pipes and storage tanks are commonly used in construction due to their ease of installation and low cost, and are typically made from high-density polyethylene and poly-vinyl...

Showering is a well acknowledged infection source for waterborne pathogens such as  Legionella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, non-tuberculous mycobacteria in shower hoses and shower heads (see blog...

Do Legionella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and non-tuberculous mycobacteria in household showers occur and, if yes, do they play any role in consumers’ health? We know that Legionella is a waterborne...

In the last 20 years many reports have been published about private homes’ water systems being contaminated with Legionella, with hot water temperature being probably the most important factor for...

As we enter this critical ramp up phase in preparation and planning, how robust is your water safety planning, and how confident are you with the suitability of your risk assessment and pre-pandemic...

During the 2020/21 pandemic many buildings including hotels, schools, universities, student accomodation blocks, fitness and leisure centers have been closed for several months. This change in normal...