Microbiology
Environmental protection and long-term operational efficiency
Microbial water quality is increasingly complex to manage as climate change, ageing infrastructure, population growth and changing land use place growing pressure on drinking water, wastewater, groundwater, surface waters and coastal environments. More frequent extreme rainfall, flooding, sewer overflows and catchment contamination can increase the risk of pathogens entering water systems while warmer temperatures may influence microbial persistence and regrowth.
Water companies and other organisations must respond to tighter regulation, public health expectations, environmental targets and the need for robust, evidence-based decision-making.
WRc
General enquiries
Understanding the microbial risks in water is essential
Understanding and managing microbial risks in water are essential to protecting public health, enabling regulatory compliance, increasing customer confidence and maintaining excellent water quality. Water can be a route for exposure to pathogenic bacteria, viruses and protozoa, particularly where faecal contamination, treatment failures or environmental contamination occur. Even low-level or intermittent microbial contamination can present risks to vulnerable groups and may indicate wider failures in source protection, treatment, distribution or environmental management.
Supporting all within the water industry
WRc provides independent advice to the water industry and other stakeholders on water of all types: drinking water, wastewater, groundwater, surface waters including coastal and fresh water. Our work supports assessing and controlling waterborne pathogens (e.g., cryptosporidium and legionella) and nuisance and indicator organisms, enabling clients to improve their water safety following regulations and guidance.
We apply the One Health approach in our projects and can engage multidisciplinary expertise within the wider WRc team to provide the best solutions. Our microbiology team works with water companies, private and non-government organisations, as well as with regulatory bodies, to ensure microbial water quality and public health protection.
Our microbiology services
Drinking water quality assessment: We assess and investigate microbial compliance in drinking water sources, during treatment and in final water. This may include literature reviews to understand water quality issues and international best practice for regulations reviews, mitigation, root-cause analysis of microbial failures, the interpretation and analysis of large datasets, including metagenomic studies, site visits and on-site assessments.
Harmful algae bloom (HAB) assessment: We will review current data on water quality for identifying sources of pollution resulting in HAB, microscopy examination and toxin-level measurements, coupled with advice on potential mitigation measures to reduce HAB-associated health risks.
Bathing and aquaculture water quality assessment: We review data for designated bathing and aquaculture site water quality failures as well as laboratory-based assessments to identify the source of faecal pollution (microbial source tracking). We also undertake quantitative microbial risk assessments (QMRA) to estimate the health risks associated with the use of water bodies for recreational activities.
Recent microbiology project support
This provides information on pathogens and other nuisance organisms that may occur within water supply systems, their taxonomy, their presence in source waters, their behaviour through treatment, detection methods and their potential health impacts if public exposure occurs (UKWIR).
This long-standing Portfolio project provides a platform for drinking water professionals to share firsthand experiences and discuss best practice in the field of drinking water treatment in a supportive environment. The forum provides a QMRA-based toolbox to assess the effectiveness of drinking water treatment and chlorination processes against microbial pathogens in drinking water (WRc Portfolio).
We undertook a comprehensive literature review and data analyses on chemical, microbiological and algae/cyanobacteria-related contaminants in Teesmouth sediments, together with relevant sediment quality guidelines/thresholds and documented ecological effects (Natural England).
On this OFWAT-funded initiative, we focused on developing open source, scalable digital models to better understand and address waterbody pollution. The collaborative work with industry partners created and evaluated machine learning tools that predicted waterbody health. It can model high-priority pollutants such as Escherichia coli, orthophosphate and flow in ungauged catchments. The AI tool integrates diverse datasets to enhance catchment monitoring at scale.
View articleTwo projects conducted for two water companies involved independently assessing the origins of the non-faecal microbial indicator detections in groundwater sources and during water treatment through site visits and data review.
We reviewed microbial indicators of faecal contamination and novel microbiological detection techniques to assess whether these could be employed to improve the detection of faecal contamination and the speed of response to waterborne disease outbreaks in drinking water supplies.
Read the reportWe modelled faecal indicator bacteria concentrations in the recreational bathing area of a reservoir under development. The aim was to assess future compliance with the Bathing Water Regulations (water company).
We reviewed UK legislation, standards and guidance relating to using flexible rubber tap connectors in hot- and cold-water systems, following a recommendation from a third party to replace the fittings because of potential legionella risk.
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