Our National Water Hygiene (‘Blue Card’) scheme plays a vital part in ensuring the protection of public health and promoting good water hygiene practices. The scheme has been developed in collaboration with all UK water companies.

All UK water companies require individuals entering clean water sites or working on the clean water network – known as ‘Restricted Operations’, to hold a National Water Hygiene EUSR registration.

‘Restricted Operations’ includes working on service reservoirs, water pumping stations, water treatment works, wells, springs, boreholes as well as working on the network of water mains and service pipes.

It’s not just water company employees.  If you are working on a ‘Restricted Operation’ on behalf of a water company subcontractor or other organisation, such as Self-Lay Organisation (SLOs) – then you need a National Water Hygiene EUSR registration.

Once you have successfully completed your National Water Hygiene training and assessment, you will understand the vital part you play in maintaining clean and safe drinking water and protecting public health. All new and renewal National Water Hygiene EUSR registrations are issued with a virtual card instead of the previous plastic card (also known as the ‘Blue Card’). Virtual cards mean you can never forget or lose your card and are easily accessible on any smartphone, tablet or iPad using the Vircarda app. 

What’s covered?

The National Water Hygiene scheme is developed in collaboration with all UK water companies and key stakeholders from across the water industry, so you can be confident that the content covers all the required knowledge and awareness of good water hygiene practices:

There are four modules:

Module 1:            The importance of water

Module 2:            Water as a carrier of disease

Module 3:            Potential contamination and its consequences

Module 4:            Preventing contamination

Quality Assured Routes to Registration

There are 3 routes to registration for National Water Hygiene:

• Face-to-face training
• Remote/e-Classroom training
• e-Learning & e-Assessment

The first two options are delivered by approved trainers either in person (face-to-face training) or virtually via online software (e-Classroom). All Trainers delivering National Water Hygiene must be approved by us and have appropriate and recent water industry experience and competence – as well as training or assessment qualifications and experience.  Our ongoing quality assurance, through monitoring and audits, ensures high quality training and a very positive learning experience.

The third option, e-Learning (with associated e-Assessment), can be accessed via our XAMS e-Learning portal. The content and usability of the programme is carefully reviewed and approved by our quality assurance team. E-Learning offers a flexible and cost-effective way to achieve an EUSR registration.