EUSR National Water Hygiene Card

The National Water Hygiene Card scheme is recognised by the UK water industry as a vital part in ensuring the protection of public health and promoting safe drinking water practices. It is a criminal offence to supply water unfit for human consumption.

Created in 2006, the 'Blue Card' replaced all water company specific hygiene schemes and removed the need for workers to undergo separate testing, health screening and to carry multiple cards. Water companies across the UK now mostly mandate the use of the EUSR National Water Hygiene card for anyone entering a clean water site or engaged in operations on the clean water network, whether in contact with the water or not.

Milo Purcell, Deputy Chief Inspector of the Drinking Water Inspectorate comments: "It is important for anyone working in contact with the water supply, to learn and fully understand their responsibilities to protecting public health and public confidence in drinking water quality. The Drinking Water Inspectorate expect all those involved to operate to the highest standards of hygiene and safety, ensuring that clean drinking water remains wholesome and there is no deterioration to the quality of supply."

It is increasingly expected that all those handling water for human consumption, including contractors, facilities management organisations, environmental health practitioners, water engineers, plumbers etc. also carry a 'Blue Card' to demonstrate competence and their understanding of safe water hygiene practice.

Any person working on a restricted operations area at sites such as service reservoirs, water pumping stations, water treatment works, wells, springs and boreholes or working on the network of water mains and service pipes must be in possession of a National Water Hygiene card. The same training package is delivered to both direct employees of water companies, and all contractors that work on the restricted operations sites including self-lay organisations working on new developments

EUSR National Water Hygiene Course Overview

The National Water Hygiene Card training protects the safety of water through good hygiene practices while working on restricted operations as defined in the technical guidance notes:

"Work which may involve direct or potential contact with untreated sources of underground water, with partially or fully treated water within water treatment works or with treated water, or any surface of an operational asset (including those temporarily out of use) which will itself be in contact with potable water at any stage in its distribution to the point where it is made available to consumers."

Online National Water Hygiene Course

In addition to offering in-person training, we also provide the choice of delivering this course through interactive Video Online Learning, serving individuals who work remotely and aim to achieve their National Water Hygiene certification. These online classes are conducted in a Zoom virtual classroom, led by our highly qualified and experienced EUSR Tutors.

Attendance - Full attendance of the course is mandatory to achieve a pass. Should your internet connection fail during the course for a prolonged period of time, or repeatedly, you may not be able to re-join as requested by the trainer, unless it can be re-established within 5 minutes. This is so general learning is not disturbed for other participants. 

Joining the Video Learning - Our courses are conducted via Zoom, and you will receive your personalised meeting link as part of your course enrolment instructions. We always recommend downloading the App in preparation of the course, you can find instructions here - https://zoom.us/download. Further support using Zoom can be found here – familiarise yourself with this prior to your course - https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/p/zoom-meetings-guide 

Health Screening

A health screening questionnaire must be completed by all individuals prior to the training and assessment. In this questionnaire, you must declare whether you have, or have had in the preceding 12 months, any of these illnesses:

• Typhoid
• Paratyphoid
• Dysentery
• Persistent diarrhoea or vomiting
• Jaundice or Hepatitis (A or E)
• Prolonged unexplained fever

If you have, or have had, any of these illnesses, then you must get written confirmation from a medical practitioner, for example your GP, that you are illness and symptom free before you can be registered for National Water Hygiene on EUSR.

Course Content

Subjects covered within the training session include:

• The premise that water is a food product and the public expect their water supply to have been treated properly so that it does not cause health problems.
• The importance of personal hygiene and identification of potential sources of contamination.
• Awareness of potential for contamination. Includes Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and the need for clean boots.
• Vehicles - vehicles need to be kept clean and tidy and tools need to be separated. Awareness of where the vehicle has been taken before entering a treatment works e.g. fields, sewage treatment works etc.
• Multi-functional working - water and sewerage working is becoming common for some companies and the associated risks must be understood.
• Fuel, diesel and chemical contamination - any of these getting into the water could have detrimental affects.
• Pets could help to spread water borne diseases e.g. dogs, cats, horses etc - ensure that individuals do not wear the same footwear for work.
• Chlorine/disinfection, both in the water itself and other usage i.e. how chlorine is used to wash boots, clean tools and in repairs, and the correct disposal of chlorine solution.
• Awareness and usage surrounding approved products. The right substance for the job
• Awareness of the sampling and audit processes in place by various bodies.

Learner Numbers

In order to ensure the interaction between the learners and the tutor is spread evenly and effectively, and to ensure the courses are fully delivered in accordance with the Scheme rules, the maximum number of learners allowed on a course is twelve.