200 workers in Brixham battling to fix cryptosporidium contamination

Residents and businesses in the Hillhead supply area of Brixham have been told they must carry on boiling their water. Assurances have been provided by South West Water (SWW) that it is working around the clock to resolve the issue.

The number of properties that are currently affected remains at around 2,500 and includes upper parts of Brixham and Kingswear. Residents in Ocean View Drive today, March 20, have reported seeing water gushing down their road as SWW empties its supply system. The 'probable' cause of the outbreak is a damaged air valve on private land.

Hillhead reservoir has been drained and cleaned. The aim is to refill the reservoir so normal drinking water supply can resume as soon as possible.

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• Brixham homes affected by cryptosporidium promised safe water ‘as soon as possible’

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Today, SWW has posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, that it has more than 200 staff and contractors on the ground today to 'urgently resolve the situation'.

In a press statement, David Harris, incident director at South West Water, said: “Our teams on the ground continue to work as quickly as we can to resolve the situation in the Hillhead supply area, where we are still advising around 2,500 properties to boil their drinking water before consuming.

"We are urgently investigating the damaged air valve on private land which we believe to be the probable cause, and following the draining and cleaning of Hillhead reservoir we have now refilled the largest of the two tanks within the reservoir and we have isolated the second tank.

“We are working 24 hours a day, and early this morning we commenced flushing of the wider Hillhead network as we work to eliminate any traces of cryptosporidium. We will not lift the boil water notice in Hillhead until we and our public health partners are completely satisfied it is safe to do so.

“Our bottled water stations in Broadsands, Freshwater Quarry and Churston remain open to customers across the Brixham area between 7am and 9pm daily."

Initially, around 17,000 households and businesses in the area were served with boil water notices after cryptosporidium was found in the water supply last Wednesday, May 15. Cryptosporidium is a waterborne disease which can cause unpleasant symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting.

The latest data, published last Friday, May 17, by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said confirmed case numbers had reached 46.

On Saturday, SWW said 14,500 households could safely drink tap water again after “rigorous testing” found no traces of the disease in the Alston water supply. However, 28 properties were wrongly told they could stop boiling their water.

Some residents received a letter saying they could drink the tap water, only to get a separate message hours later advising them to keep boiling it. SWW later apologised and blamed an issue with its digital mapping system for the error. It is offering an extra £75 compensation to people given the wrong advice.

On community Facebook page Brixham (Fish Town) a resident affected by the blunder posted: "Late afternoon a leaflet was posted through our door saying water now okay to drink. Then about two hours later another leaflet posted stating water not safe to drink.

"Then a few minutes later, a SWW chappy knocked on the door saying water was definitely not safe and SWW were unsure who had posted the 'safe to drink' leaflet."

Earlier today, Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall, whose area also includes Brixham, said he is encouraging residents to check their postcode on the SWW website to see if they are affected.

On his Facebook page, he said: "I am aware that some properties along the border of the Alston and Hillhead supply areas have received mixed messaging regarding whether their tap water is now safe to drink. If this is the case for you, please do double check your postcode on the South West Water website: https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/.../in.../service-updates

"You can also contact South West Water's customer service team on 0344 346 2020, where they will manually check whether your address is affected. I am also in communication with South West Water about compensation and how this is to be paid to residents.

"I have asked that those who do not pay by direct debit receive payment by cheque instead, and hope SWW take this on board. As you can imagine, I have had a great deal of communication about this issue which my team and I are continuing to work through."

SWW says it has now handed out and delivered over half a million bottles of water since the start of the incident, including direct deliveries to vulnerable customers and schools, hospitals and care homes. Compensation has been increased to £215.