Question

A faucet that supplies clean drinking water is fitted with a flexible hose to fill a mop bucket. A careless employee leaves the end of the hose in a bucket of dirty mop water overnight. Due to changing air pressure within the building's plumbing system, the dirty mop water moves up the hose and into the faucet, contaminating the clean drinking water. What is this type of contamination called?

A. Cross-contamination
B. Biological contamination
C. Chemical contamination
D. Physical contamination

Answer 1

The contamination described is called cross-contamination, which occurs when clean drinking water comes into contact with a contaminated source, here being the dirty mop water.

Step-by-step explanation:

The type of contamination described in the scenario where dirty mop water moves up the hose and into the faucet, contaminating the clean drinking water, is known as cross-contamination. This occurs when harmful substances, such as pathogens or chemicals from a contaminated source, come into contact with food or water intended for human consumption. In this case, it is the mixing of clean and contaminated water which can pose a health risk to anyone who consumes the now contaminated drinking water. It is critical to ensure that faucets used for drinking water and hoses used for cleaning purposes are kept separate to avoid such contamination.