How to reduce the risk of bacteria when using water in your home

Cleaning taps and shower heads

Regularly clean and descale limescale from taps and shower heads.

Flush out infrequently used outlet

An infrequently used outlet is any water outlet that has not been used for 7 days.

If you have been away from your home for 7 days or more:

• run taps for about 5 minutes at a low flow to prevent creating water spray
• remove shower heads and run at a high temperature for about 2 minutes
• close toilet lids and flush toilet twice to circulate fresh water through the system
• heat your hot water tank to above 60°C before you use it, if you switched it off

If you are going to be away from your home for 7 days or more and have a wet and dry toilet, like a Closomat, switch it off at the wall. This removes warm water from the cistern. When you return to your home, close the toilet lid and flush twice.

If you have a water butt, you will need to regularly drain and empty it to prevent water from becoming stagnant.

Water hygiene risk assessment

We will complete a water hygiene risk assessment for all relevant building and water systems every two years or when there is a change to the system.

If we find anything that needs to be repaired during the assessment, we will arrange for it to be repaired.