Aqua Pennsylvania says drinking water is safe

Officials say tap water meets all state and federal guidelines and does not transmit COVID-19.

LOWER MERION » As many people remain at home and bottled water seems to have become one of those musthave items under strict purchasing limits in stores, officials from local water companies say the drinking water from taps remains safe from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Officials from Aqua Pennsylvania, in partnership with the American Water Works Association, are reminding their customers that tap water is safe to drink during the current health issue.

Aqua’s water treatment procedures ensure that the company’s water is safe to drink and meets all Pennsylvania and federal safety requirements, said Chris Crockett, chief environmental, safety, and sustainability officer with Aqua.

“National and international research shows COVID-19 has not been detected in drinking water and is not considered a source of transmission,” Crockett said.

Earlier this year, Aqua held a groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of a new state-of-theart laboratory at its Bryn Mawr headquarters in Lower Merion.

Its current lab is certified by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and four other state environmental and health regulatory agencies. It employs a staff of 20 microbiologists and chemists who perform 300,000 tests on 30,000 water samples each year. They use 50 different analytical methods for 240 different water quality parameters.

“Aqua Pennsylvania has a very detailed water treatment process and filtration that our water goes through before it is distributed to homes and businesses,” Crockett said in an email.

According to Crockett, although the specifics about the spread of COVID-19 are still being researched, Aqua Pennsylvania’s standard business operations include treatment procedures that remove or inactivate viruses, including COVID-19, from water supplies and sources.

“The treatment Aqua uses to kill other pathogens is completely effective against COVID-19 as it is weaker than the pathogens we remove every day,” Crockett said.

Company officials said they are continuing to monitor the COVID-19 outbreak and are working closely with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and local health authorities to address the situation and evaluate operational response plans.

With more people working from home, officials at Aqua are also asking customers to be careful of what they flush down the drains.

Sanitizing wipes, flushable wipes, paper towels and tissues should never be flushed down toilets.

Those products are not intended for wastewater systems and can lead to serious plumbing problems.

Consumers should also keep sinks and drains clear of fat, oil and grease to prevent clogs. Aqua has tips to help keep pipes clear of clogs: Never pour cooking grease down sink drains or into toilets; if homeowners have leftover cooking grease, carefully pour the warm, not hot, grease into a metal can, wait for it to cool, and dispose of it in the trash; keep strainers in sink drains to catch food scraps and other solids and scrape food scraps and grease into a trash can.

One other COVID-19 issue is that as things slowly begin to reopen, the water in the pipes should be checked.

According to company officials, water held unused in pipes when the buildings are closed can become stagnant and produce undesirable tastes or odors when the building is reopened and water use is returned to normal. Extended periods of inactivity can also cause lead leaching or legionella growth.

They recommend that any building plumbing, including water heaters, be thoroughly flushed before reopening for normal use by flushing all cold water lines first followed by hot water lines. Faucets and showers should be run for about 10 minutes. The cold lines should be run first, then hot.

Toilets should be flushed several times to ensure freshwater moves through piping. Other plumbing appliances and equipment should be flushed thoroughly to bring fresh water into the system. Run water until you can smell the chlorine in the water.