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Blog

Contamination in the drinking water system of a truck stop

Harmful biofilms can form in drinking water installations. These are communities of bacteria, fungi and algae that adhere to the surfaces of pipes, tubes, tanks and reservoirs as a kind of slime layer. Such a biofilm cannot be removed by vigorous rinsing with hot water, UV radiation or conventional chemical disinfectant solutions. This posed problems for a car depot, where increased contamination of the drinking water was detected after a year of coronavirus restrictions.

Date: 11.03.2022 | Reading time: 4. Min.

Increased cases of legionella due to the corona pandemic

Like many restaurants, the one in the Autohof remained unused for around a year. As stipulated by the Drinking Water Ordinance, the water pipes were drained to prevent contamination through stagnation. However, residual water remained in the pipes, which, in combination with the oxygen in the air, led to increased growth of the existing biofilm. As a result, the microorganisms in it also multiplied. Over time, the pipes dried out, causing the biofilm to harden. After the drinking water system was put back into operation, it softened on the surface. This allowed bacteria and germs to enter the flowing drinking water in quantities that were hazardous to health and contaminated the entire installation.

Biofilm in pipes

As long as the biofilm remains in the pipes, pure disinfection is a very short-term solution. Although the germs in the water are destroyed, the source is not. Thermal disinfection with hot water or steam is only recommended to a limited extent, as it cannot completely remove the biofilm. In older buildings in particular, thick layers of slime protect the microorganisms from high temperatures. A better and more sustainable solution was offered by the disinfection carried out by one of our partners using the BEULCO disinfection box and BEULCO Clean.

Due to the hardening, several disinfection cycles had to be carried out in this specific case in order to dissolve the entire biofilm and finally eliminate the contamination. In contrast to thermal and conventional chemical disinfection, there is no risk of material wear even if this is carried out several times, meaning that the service life of the drinking water system is not affected.