Waterborne disease in 2025: a business perspective

You wouldn’t think something as simple as water could shut down most businesses, but it does happen. In 2025, the risk of waterborne disease isn’t some fringe issue, it’s a real, rising issue, and if you’re running a business, it should be on your radar.

We’re not saying every stagnant tap is a ticking time bomb, but with climate shifts, changing building usage, and tighter health regulations, the landscape has changed. Here’s what you need to know as a business, from your regulatory duties to practically effective prevention strategies.

A hidden risk

Legionella bacteria can grow anywhere water isn’t flowing freely. It loves lukewarm temps, unused pipes, and neglected outlets. Failure to notice potential risks and mitigate them early on can be a dangerous strategy to adopt, to say the least. What this means is that an outbreak linked to your building isn’t just a bad look, it could result in legal trouble, reputational damage, and even closure. That’s not to mention the HSE, insurance claims, or someone getting seriously ill. 

Risk assessments are more than a formality

If you’re treating Legionella risk assessment like a one-off kind of thing, you’re already behind. These assessments are meant to reflect how things are now, not how they were when the building opened or when the last contractor walked out. Has your building had rooms closed off? Less foot traffic since hybrid working kicked in? Reconfigured plumbing layouts? Any of these can impact your water system in ways that might not be obvious until there’s a problem. A current, competent Legionella risk assessment helps you catch the risks before they snowball, and should be a priority in your overall strategy.

The importance of system maintenance

Even the best risk assessment doesn’t do much if it’s followed by inaction. That’s where things often fall apart. Someone gets assigned to flush the taps or take temperature readings, and six months later, the logbook’s still blank. Why? Often, because responsibilities weren’t clearly outlined in a way that made it imperative for someone to act. The businesses that stay on top of water hygiene are the ones who bake it into routine maintenance and designate responsibility, not just compliance for compliance’s sake. 

A centralised strategy 

The most important thing is that all of your water hygiene efforts are coordinated into a single, overarching strategy. This is important for a number of reasons. First, you’ll avoid wasting resources on tasks that have already been taken care of by other teams. Second, it ensures that the different aspects of your approach slot in together, maximising their efficacy.

You’ll also find that it’s much easier to prove legal compliance, whether something actually goes wrong or you just get inspected by a regulator. Either way, you need to compile everything in a single document - generally, a water safety plan. 

Staying ahead of waterborne disease isn’t just a process of regularly ticking boxes - it ultimately comes down to keeping people safe, avoiding disruption, and protecting your reputation. The cost of prevention is tiny compared to the fallout of an outbreak. In 2025, ignoring water hygiene isn’t just careless, it has the potential to become expensive.