Dear Sir or Madam,

Could you please tell me:-

1) Are water companies required to test for bacteriophages in our
drinking water.

2) What are the reasons for the answer to question 1) above?

Many thanks.

Yours faithfully,

Mike Jozefiak

Yours faithfully,

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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Dear Suzie,

Many thanks for your very clear and concise reply.

It makes me wonder why the NHS, with MRSA and hospital infection
problems, hasn't woken up to the bacteria killing properties of
phages yet!

Thanks again for your time.

Regards,

Mike