What do we mean by process water?
Process water is water that is used during or after the production process in factories and production units. Process water is used as:
- water for cleaning installations,
- rinse or wash water for raw materials in the food industry,
- cooling water for cooling installations,
- raw material in the beverage and food industry,
- medium to transport products within industrial processes
Water as a driving force in production companies
Depending on the application, the water must meet specific quality requirements. Generally speaking, water that comes into direct or indirect contact with foodstuffs must be of drinking water quality.
What quality is required?
Drinking water is also called water of drinking water quality and is water that meets the minimum requirements laid down in the Royal Decree of 14 January 2002. Drinking water is healthy and clean water, which means that it does not contain quantities or concentrations of micro-organisms, parasites or other substances that pose a potential danger to the health of consumers.
The operator using drinking water must have a self-monitoring system based on HACCP principles. The same Royal Decree also lays down the frequency of checks and the parameters to be checked.
A production company can use different types and sources of water:
- water from the public water supply network
- water pumped up from a borehole
- water from other sources, such as collected rainwater, recycled wastewater or process water, etc.
Water from the public water supply network is assumed to be of drinking water quality. However, when it undergoes a treatment such as softening, spraying, heating, disinfection, storage or filtration, the prescribed checks (parameters and frequency) apply. Water other than tap water must always be checked.
What to do if desired process water quality is not achieved?
The use of chemical substances in water disinfection to make it drinkable
must not entail any health risks for the consumer. Therefore, disinfection of process water may only be carried out with biocides that are authorised in Belgium. For disinfection of water of drinking water quality, these are biocides of type 5 (PT 5 registration). For disinfecting process water that does not come into direct contact with food, humans or animals, these are biocides with a PT2 registration. The list of authorised biocides can be found on the website of the FPS Public Health.
All the products we use for disinfection of process water comply with both this PT5 and PT2 registration.
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