Wasserversorgungszweckverband Weimar: We won’t leave you high and dry!

Food is inspected for good reasons. In­­creasingly health-conscious consumers quite rightly pose critical questions about the quality and origin of products they buy – and the same goes for drinking water, our No. 1 foodstuff. Where does it come from? How is it processed and distributed? What substances are added to it? Can you in all good conscience let your children drink it and use it for preparing food and beverages?

As the officer responsible for hygiene and product quality, Ms Elvira Saalfeld, a gra­­­d­uate engineer at the Weimar Water Supply Association (WZV Weimar), gives this assu­r­­ance: “You don’t need to worry about drinking our water, and it tastes good, too.” A multi-stage system – precautions, regulations, monitoring, hygiene and professional skill – makes sure of this.

According to Ms Saalfeld, these precautions mean that all the wells and springs used by the WZV Weimar are legally pro­­­tected water reserves. Because of their intended use, these areas are sub­ject to certain restrictions which are designed to protect the ground water. “Together with representatives of the lo­cal health autho­r­­ities, we carry out regular on-the-spot checks to ensure that these conditions are adhered to”, says Ms Saalfeld.

When preparing drinking water, says Ms Saalfeld, the WZV Weimar uses only those substances that are approved by the “Regulations on Drink­ing Water and Water for Use in Food­stuffs”, processing and dosing plants are checked regularly and supervised constantly.
Ms Saalfeld emphasises that even the checks are carried out strictly according to law. An independent, accredited lab­oratory takes more than 1,000 drinking water samples per year for testing on
behalf of the WZV Weimar. “Two testing organizations are better than one”, says Ms Saalfeld, and mentions that the lo­cal health authorities also take sam­ples for analysis.

The hygiene and quality specialist also keeps a close eye on cleanliness. As a precaution the storage tanks are regularly emptied and cleaned by WZV Weimar employees. Only after subsequent testing of the water are the tanks approved for use again. The procedure is the same for newly-laid pipes: these are carefully disinfected and washed out before being put into service.

The area manager mentions the importance of well-qualified staff. Both oper­ation, maintenance and repair of the WZV Weimar’s water supply plant are carried out by specialists – experienced and qualified staff, master tradesmen and engineers, who continually attend training courses. As a member of the Ger­man Gas and Water Association (DVGW) and the German Gas and Water Industry Association (BGW), the WZV Weimar also profits from the informa­tion and advice services and continuing education courses these organizations offer.

Ms Saalfeld sums it all up in one sentence: “Our drinking water is a tested quality product from our region!”