Brixham water crisis: Boil notices lifted in more areas 6 weeks after parasite discovery

Credit: PA

Residents in four more parts of Brixham have been told they no longer need to boil their water six weeks after a parasite was found in the town's water supply.

The cryptosporidium parasite, which causes sickness and diarrhoea, was found in the water supply for the Brixham area on 15 May and affected more than 40,000 people.

In the weeks that followed, South West Water has been lifting restrictions in some areas of the town, now including properties in Kingswear, Noss Marina, Hillhead Park, and Raddicombe.

But the notice is still in place for residents in a number of areas; Summercombe, Chestnut Drive , Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary's.

David Harris, incident director at South West Water, said: "Following weeks of intensive work and monitoring, the network has returned to normal, and water supplies now meet the high standards our customers expect.

"The boil water notice will remain in place for customers in the Summercombe, Chestnut Drive , Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary's supply areas as they are on a different part of the network.

"We are still working in these areas to return the water to normal and will continue to communicate with these customers to keep them up to date."

About 17,000 households in Devon were warned earlier this month about a parasite outbreak Credit: Ben Birchall/PA

The statement continued: "Since this event began, we have identified, removed and replaced the source of the contamination, a damaged air valve casing on private land.

"We have also thoroughly cleaned our network, using advanced techniques, and added a double layer of protection using ultraviolet treatment and specialist microfilters to provide additional barriers.

"Hundreds of South West Water network technicians, engineers, water quality scientists and contractors have worked day and night over many weeks to fix this issue.

"Today’s decision to lift the boil water notices for these properties 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."

The water company plans to announce the next phases of lifting "soon".

A boil notice was issued by South West Water on 15 May, affecting around 40,000 people in the town. Credit: Piers Mucklejohn/PA

What are the symptoms of cryptosporidium infection?

Cryptosporidium is a parasite found in lakes, streams and rivers, untreated drinking water and sometimes in swimming pools. The main symptoms of cryptosporidium infection are:

  • Watery diarrhoea

  • Vomiting

  • Stomach pains

  • A fever

Symptoms may not begin for between two and 12 days after infection. Usually, symptoms of cryptosporidium infection will only last a couple of days but can continue for up to three or four weeks. The parasite can affect people with weak immune systems for much longer.

Speaking on the rise in confirmed cases, consultant in health protection for UKHSA South West Sarah Bird said: “While further cases may be reported due to the time lag between exposure and falling ill, the number of cases being reported is slowing down.

“As with any other sickness bug, it is really important to follow good infection prevention measures such as handwashing with hot soapy water, as alcohol hand gel is not enough to kill cryptosporidium. This will prevent further cases spreading from person to person through the community.

“Those with symptoms should stay off nursery, school and work for 48 hours since the last episode of illness, and anyone with diarrhoea should not go swimming for 14 days after their last episode of illness.

"This is really important to stop further spread of the illness from person to person.”