Darlington residents advised to boil water before using after Northumbrian Water fault

Northumbrian Water customers in Darlington are being asked, as a precaution, to boil their water before using it.

A technical fault at Broken Scar Treatment Works, in the early hours of Tuesday 1 February, caused a very small amount of the water to leave the site without the correct level of disinfection.

The fault at the treatment works was immediately fixed, however as some of the water did get into the water network, a temporary and precautionary “boil water” notice was put in place for customers in the area.

The boil notice is still in place as a precaution and Northumbrian Water says it believes the risk to customers to be low based on test results so far.

An update is expected today but as it stands, the postcodes that are included in this boil notice are only the ones in Darlington that start with:

DL1 1, DL1 2, DL1 3, DL1 4, DL1 5, DL2 1, DL2 2, DL3 0, DL3 6, DL3 7, DL3 8, DL3 9

There had been some confusion that homes in DL11 , DL12, DL13, DL14 and DL15 areas were included in this. It has now been confirmed that this is not the case.

Some more vulnerable residents have been sent bottled water and the company says it is working with the council to offer support and alternate water to schools, nurseries, and care homes in Darlington.