Hi All,
I am from a small scale water bottling company. Our process takes water from an underground source which goes through a line of microfilters (20, 5, 1, 0.35 and 0.20 micrometers filters in this order) and finally UV treatment before bottling. There is no chlorine or ozone added.
I take samples after each size of filter to assess the hygiene of the filters and after the UV to ensure the UV effectively kills the microbes prior to bottling. i am trying to establish the maximum level of tolerance for the micro count at the filters. Wondering if anyone can share their experience of what is considered too high after the filters. After the UV, my tolerance is based on drinking water guidelines for my local authority. For the filters, I am just not sure what number is considered too high. If anyone can share their experience, I would highly appreciate it.
Another question: since our plant is low production volume, I find that the micro count at the filters increase rapidly after even a day of not running the line. Since the filters are costly, we are trying to find ways to maintain them so that we can extend its usable life. To reduce the micro count, we have been flushing the filters with plain well water for 1 hour during non-production days. I was wondering if anyone has suggestions to how else the filters can be maintained.
Thank you in advance.
Vicki