E. coli In Drinking Water: What It Means And What To Do

Few results scare people like an E. coli detection. The good news: most E. coli strains are harmless. The bad news: a positive result means faecal contamination has reached your water somewhere.

What to do immediately

1. Stop drinking the water (boil for 1 minute as a temporary measure)
2. Inspect your tank inlet, gutters, and overflow for animal access
3. Disinfect with chlorine at 5 mg/L for 24 hours
4. Retest after disinfection

Our Full Suite Tank Water Test screens for both E. coli and total coliforms — and our plain-English summary tells you exactly what each result means.