It seems like you would get pretty nasty germs happily living in our plumbing (especially untreated well water).
I think about the water that can sit for prolonged periods in hot water tanks, stagnant water in dead end sections of the plumbing system (unused outside faucet etc), and the wet oxygen rich environment inside the faucet ends.
Yet you almost never hear about people getting sick from their water🤷🏽♂️
In: 1670
In addition to all the above comments. Often pipework has biofilms that can be harmful. In the building that I work in, the water continously circulates to prevent biofilms and hot water systems are monitored to ensure that they are hot enough to reduce growth. Hot water cylinders are pasteurised on a regular basis.
Because of the presence of legionella bacteria we also dose the water with Chlorine dioxide at around 0.3ppm but this is not great because it degrades soft plastic seals and other fittings faster.
In large buildings keeping the water quality good to drink or more importantly shower in (legionella is respiratory) is an important function of the maintenance team.
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