The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has notified local authorities that water testing may be postponed at domestic and commercial properties to comply with social distancing advice.
The DWI urged water companies to continue testing work wherever possible, but permitted the postponement of checks in cases where there may be a risk to staff or public health.
In an open letter to all companies, the Inspectorate said it expected them to take “all possible reasonable steps” to continue supplying water during any outbreak relating to the coronavirus. This applies to all aspects of operational delivery from source to tap, it said.
It advised local authorities to reschedule upcoming samples to later in the year wherever possible but if the situation develops in a way that makes that unfeasible then the reason for not sampling would be required.
Water suppliers were encouraged to increase operational checks to ensure water quality remains high.
DWI suggested source protection, treatment, storage checks should be bolstered in the absence of monitoring and ensure maintenance continues.
The DWI followed the World Health Organisation (WHO) drinking water safety planning approach, which sets out that sampling is a means of validating that effective risk mitigation measures are in place.
The WHO said there is currently no evidence that the coronavirus survives in drinking water or sewage based on the make-up of the virus, so there has been no specific guidance for treating water or wastewater differently.