In 2023, a serious drinking water pollution incident broke out in a community in Taiwan. Resident Xiaoqi (pseudonym) suddenly suffered from severe vomiting and diarrhea and fell into a coma after drinking tap water from the community. After being rushed to the hospital, she was diagnosed with many serious illnesses such as bacteremia, acute pyelonephritis, and electrolyte imbalance. She was once notified of critical illness and had to be rescued in the intensive care unit for six days before she was out of danger. She also left long-term sequelae such as kidney and nerve damage.
After an investigation by the court, it was found that due to the old pipelines of the building, red worms invaded the water tower. Although the community management committee arranged for the water tower to be cleaned a second time, before the contamination problem was truly eliminated, it announced in the community LINE group that “the water tower has been cleaned and can be used normally”, misleading residents to resume normal water use. In fact, even after the announcement was issued, residents continued to report that their water filters had turned black and they had persistent diarrhea, with some even being hospitalized.
More importantly, the chairman admitted in the subsequent dialogue record that the community still needed to carry out disinfection, sewage pipeline improvement and water quality testing, which showed that the water quality at that time had not yet reached safety standards. In the end, the court found that the management committee failed to fulfill its obligation to maintain shared facilities in accordance with the “Apartment Building Management Regulations” and that there was a considerable causal relationship between its management negligence and the damage to the residents’ health. It awarded a total of 369,277 yuan in medical expenses and emotional comfort.
Mosquitoes, silt, dust: invisible health risks hidden in water towers
Although similar drinking water contamination disputes are rare in Taiwan, the verdict of this case immediately aroused great attention from all walks of life to the issue of cleaning management of building water towers. There are two aspects of this case that deserve in-depth review: one is the seriousness of the pollution incident itself; the other is the pollution problem of water towers and pipelines, which should be highly valued by community management units.
In fact, the problem of water tower pollution in daily life is often far more subtle than this case. Most residents will not immediately associate daily abnormalities such as gastrointestinal discomfort, odor in the water, and accelerated wear of the water filter with the cleanliness of the water tower. Precisely because the problem is not obvious enough, regular cleaning of water towers has long been under-appreciated in the management agenda of many communities and has been postponed again and again.
However, the inside of the water tower that has been neglected for a long time has actually quietly accumulated various pollution sources such as scale, rust, algae, bacteria and even red nematodes. Once these substances are mixed into the daily water supply, they may affect the water quality and taste, or cause gastrointestinal infections. For the elderly, young children and patients with chronic diseases who have weak immune systems, the health risks they bear should not be underestimated.
Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean there’s no problem. Experts reveal the hidden crisis of building water use
“The water tower is one of the most easily overlooked cleaning points in every household, because you can’t usually see or touch it. You don’t know how dirty it is inside, and you don’t even know whether the building is being cleaned and maintained regularly,” the team said.
In fact, Rieter’s cleaning team often encounters staggering situations when undertaking water tower cleaning operations. The inner walls of some water towers are covered with thick scale and rust, while a large amount of sediment and organic matter has accumulated at the bottom of some water towers. What is even more alarming is that these water towers and extended pipelines may have already bred a large number of bacteria. Once the high temperatures hit in summer, serious drinking water pollution problems may quickly break out in a short period of time.
Rieter’s cleaning team pointed out that there are no more than two reasons for the above problems: one is insufficient cleaning frequency, and the other is insufficient cleaning quality. A complete water tower cleaning operation is by no means simply flushing. Before officially entering the site, professionals must first confirm the operating status of the liquid level control switch, and then perform preparatory operations such as stopping the water and emptying the stored water. During the cleaning process, scale, rust and organic sediments on the inner wall must be manually brushed one by one, and the inside of the pipeline must also be processed simultaneously. The omission of any step may greatly reduce the cleaning effect.
According to the regulations of the health authorities, the building’s water tower should be cleaned at least once every six months, coupled with regular water quality testing. In practice, the cleaning frequency of many communities is far lower than this standard. Some buildings are only cleaned once every few years. The accumulated pollution problems have long exceeded the scope of effective treatment by general cleaning operations.
Rieter’s cleaning team also calls on community management committees and building management units to incorporate regular cleaning of water towers into their regular facility maintenance plans, rather than reacting passively when residents have health abnormalities or face legal prosecution.
Who will take care of the health of residents? Start by cleaning the water tower to make daily water use more secure
This community drinking water pollution judgment case has attracted attention from all walks of life and has also given the outside world a more concrete understanding of the necessity of regular cleaning of building water towers. Those who have been engaged in the building water tower cleaning business for a long timeRieter cleaningThe team pointed out that although the concept of regular cleaning of water towers has gradually gained attention, in terms of practical implementation, a considerable proportion of communities still fail to implement regular maintenance, and the relevant supporting mechanisms also need to be improved.
Rieter’s cleaning team currently provides services such as on-site inspection of the building’s water tower, complete cleaning operations and disinfection treatments. After each operation is completed, a complete cleaning record report is issued for the management committee or building management unit to keep for future reference as evidence for clarifying management responsibilities in the future. The team emphasizes that each commission is executed in accordance with standardized procedures. From the condition assessment before entering the site to the inspection and confirmation after completion, the entire process is recorded to ensure that the cleaning quality is transparent and traceable.
“Water in daily life is very important. As long as there is no water for a day, daily life will be in trouble. But few people think about what path the water takes before entering the home.” Rieter’s cleaning team said.
The water from the water plant usually needs to pass through the building’s water storage tower and transmission pipeline before reaching the residents’ homes. This process is invisible to residents, but it profoundly affects the quality of water used every day. Water plants have strict water quality control mechanisms, but the maintenance of water towers and pipelines completely relies on the independent management of each community. Once there is an oversight in this link, no matter how clean the water source is, it may be quietly contaminated with undue pollution before it reaches the tap.
Because of this,water tower cleaningThe significance of water is far more than just a hygiene habit of regular cleaning, but an indispensable level to protect residents’ daily water safety. Rieter’s cleaning team has been deeply involved in the field of building water tower cleaning for a long time, and is well aware of the responsibility behind every cleaning operation. It is not only a commission contract, but also the natural but hard-won peace of mind that residents in the entire building feel when they turn on the faucet every day.
Source: KOCPC Chinese