Cryptosporidium and Giardia

Water quality is an issue that is important to everyone. At WaterOne, we take our job very seriously to produce safe water.

We are proud that we meet or exceed all state and federal standards for safe drinking water.

Recently in the news, there's been talk about the pathogenic microbes, Cryptosporidium and Giardia.

We want to assure our customers that WaterOne has a very sound treatment program which effectively removes Cryptosporidium, Giardia and other contaminants from the water.

Turbidity and the Presence of Cryptosporidium and Giardia

• Cryptosporidium and Giardia are most likely to be present in turbid, unclear water, particularly water that has a high concentration of animal feces (e.g. from cattle) runoff. WaterOne maintains a turbidity level on its finished water that is more stringent (i.e. lower) than the EPA’s standard to ensure the removal of microbes.
• Using state of the art equipment, our treatment basins and filters are monitored regularly throughout a 24 hour period to ensure that turbidity levels are kept extremely low thus ensuring that these microbes and other contaminants are removed. Turbidity tests are performed by our laboratory on finished tap water every two hours, as well, to verify their removal.

Sampling and Testing

• Procedures for testing for Cryptosporidium are just now being well defined by the industry.

Barriers to Cryptosporidium and Giardia

• WaterOne treats its water by using five steps that are critical for the removal of these microbes. They are:
  1. Pre-sedimentation
  2. Chlorination
  3. Coagulation
  4. Filtration
  5. Post-chlorination
• WaterOne softens its water; and to our knowledge, there has never been a waterborne disease outbreak associated with Cryptosporidium and Giardia at a water treatment plant that practices lime softening. Lime softening is believed to be a very effective additional barrier against these harmful organisms.
• The water industry shares concerns about the difficulty and expense to ensure the removal of Cryptosporidium and Giardia from public water supplies around the country. However, we are certain WaterOne is doing all that is currently possible given today’s technology to remove this contaminant and to ensure the health and safety of our customers.
• Where Cryptosporidium and Giardia have been identified as the agent of waterborne disease outbreak, the water supply was found to be defective in process control, not process design.
• There is no known waterborne disease outbreak attributable to Cryptosporidium, Giardia or any other microbial contaminant in WaterOne water supply.
• WaterOne participates in regular meetings with the Johnson County Health and Environmental Departments to develop protocols for public health issues and provide avenues of communication between the medical community and WaterOne on Cryptosporidium and Giardia.