Letter from Susan Davy, Chief Executive Officer

Latest update: 8th July 2024

Today we are pleased to be able to lift the Boil Water Notice for all remaining customers in the Brixham area impacted by cryptosporidium. 

The Notice has now been lifted for customers in the Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary's supply zones, and it is now safe to drink your tap water as normal. 

The decision was made in line with the principles agreed with public health partners, including the UK Health Security Agency and the local authority's Environmental Health department.

Following eight weeks of intensive interventions, enhanced sampling and monitoring together with working alongside public health partners - the full network in the Brixham area has now returned to normal and all customers, business and visitors can drink their tap water, safely.

Nothing has mattered more to us than the health and safety of our customers and we are pleased we can now reassure you that your water supply meets the high standards you rightly expect. 

Sample results have shown that the completed work including flushing and ice pigging has been highly effective in removing cryptosporidium from the network.

A triple layer of protection is now in place including microfilters and UV at our tank and in-line microfiltration in your supply zone providing additional barriers. So you can be confident that the water is safe to drink.

We want to let you know that now you can use your water as normal, we will be closing the bottled water stations from 9pm this evening (Monday 8 July).

Water deliveries will also stop in the final area to be lifted from the Boil Water Notice today, we will though continue to deliver water to customers on our Priority Services Register today and tomorrow.

We are sorry for the disruption the Boil Water Notice has brought. We are especially sorry for the distress caused to those who fell ill because of cryptosporidium and to the ones who had to care for them.

We would like to thank all our customers, visitors and businesses for your patience and understanding throughout the incident.

Laura Flowerdew

Chief Customer Officer

Last updated: 09:00 08/07/24

How we've cleaned and protected the water supply system to be able to lift the Boil Water Notice

Since cryptosporidium was detected in our network we have worked as fast as possible to remove it and make your water safe again. To do that, our teams have:

• Identified the source of the contamination and replaced the damaged air valve casing
• Thoroughly cleansed our network from the tanks down to the mains in your street, using a range of cleaning techniques including ice pigging
• Put a triple layer of protection in place including microfilters and UV at our tank and in-line microfiltration in your supply zone to provide additional barriers. 

The map below shows this in detail and where the protections are now in place.

Extensive interventions have been undertaken to both remove and destroy cryptosporidium from the water supply system.

From time to time, we may see low-level detections of cryptosporidium at sampling points even after interventions are complete. Each of these detections is fully investigated and shared with public health bodies. 

Investigations undertaken so far have confirmed: 

• there is no further source of contamination into the system.
• the levels of cryptosporidium we are detecting are lower than concentration levels that would cause illness.
• the additional treatment we have installed continues to operate as designed and is effectively protecting supplies.

Whilst it is not possible to test whether cryptosporidium detected are alive or dead, it is increasing unlikely they will be in a condition that might cause illness or infection due to time that has now elapsed since the source of contamination was isolated on 15th May. Expert opinion confirms that cryptosporidium degrades over time when in water systems. In addition, any residual contamination has been subject to aggressive cleaning techniques which significantly reduces its harmful lifespan further.

In addition, UV treatment has been installed because it is highly effective in making cryptosporidium harmless, and filters remain in place to ensure residual levels are removed prior to reaching customer homes.

Based on the findings of our investigations the water remains safe to continue to use as normal.  

Frequently Asked Questions

We've listened to our customers and have answered the most commonly asked questions following the boil water notice.

Additional information

Daily Cryptosporidium Results