Bacteriophages in drinking water

Dear Mr Jozefiak

Thank you for your recent email about drinking water. To answer your first
question, water companies are not required to test for bacteriophages in
drinking water.
Secondly bacteriophage are not human pathogens, they are virus-like
particles that live in bacteria. They are not harmful to human health.
Some types of bacteriophage are used as tracers in studies of the natural
environment, including groundwater.

I trust this answers your enquiry.

Yours sincerely

Suzie Carruthers
Customer Contact Unit- Defra

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

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