08/07/2024 - Boil Water Notice lifted for all remaining customers in the Brixham area impacted by cryptosporidium
"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"
02/07/2024
Boil water notice is lifted for customers in the Summercombe and Chestnut Drive supply zone
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water, said: “We are today lifting the boil water notice for 731 properties in the Summercombe and Chestnut Drive supply zone.
Having lifted the boil water notice for properties in the Kingswear, Noss Marina, Hillhead Park and Raddicombe supply zones last week, our intensive work and monitoring has returned this part of the network to normal meaning the water in the Summercombe and Chestnut Drive supply zone now meets the high standards our customers expect.
Our number one priority has always been the health and safety of our customers, businesses, and visitors to the region. We know this situation has been difficult for impacted people and we are sorry.
As 678 properties in the Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary's supply zone are on a different part of the network, the boil water notice will remain in place for them. We are still working in that area to return the water to normal and we will continue to keep our customers up to date with our progress.
Since this event began, we have identified, removed and replaced the source of the contamination, a damaged air valve casing on private land.
Our extensive programme of work has involved flushing over 34km of water pipes, ‘ice pigging’ and swabbing the network, and installing ultraviolet treatment and microfilters to provide barriers to remove cryptosporidium within our network. We have worked with specialists internally and externally to deliver interventions into our existing network safely, efficiently and often much quicker than would normally be expected.
We have flushed our network 27 times and installed filters, while laying over 1.2km of new pipework. Alongside this work, our teams have surveyed our pipes using specialised cameras and conducted regular sampling to be confident that the water supply has been restored to the high standards and to reassure customers that their water is safe when we lift the notices.
Sample results have shown that ice pigging is highly effective in removing cryptosporidium from our network, allowing us to return the supply to normal once the work is complete and the network has settled. UV treatment and specialist microfilters then provide protective barriers to ensure that when we lift boil water notices, customers can be absolutely confident that the water is safe to drink.
This is what our customers expect and what they deserve, and testing by both independent experts and our own scientists confirm that our efforts have worked.
Throughout this incident and while working with the UK Health Security Agency, the regulator and other public health authorities, we have also sought the best advice from experts and scientists from across the world, as well as many UK-based experts to learn from their experiences.
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.
While we cannot and will not underestimate the impact this has had on people, we are pleased to have now removed 15,368 people from boil water notices.
We will continue to work around the clock to complete our ongoing work to ensure the water is safe to drink for the remaining customers on boil water notices. During this time we will continue to deliver bottled water direct to our customers, and through our three bottled water collection points. So far, we have given customers over 1.4 million bottles of water.
We are sorry for every customers who has been impacted by this incident and we thank them for their patience. We won’t stop until everyone has a clean and safe supply of drinking water, and we are confident we will be able to announce the further phases of lifting soon.
Last updated: 09:10 02/07/2024
25/06/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water said: “We are continuing to see clear results in the water supply to Kingswear, Noss Marina, Hillhead Park and Raddicombe areas.
We are working closely with external health partners including the UK Health Security Agency and the local authority's Environmental Health to ensure that when we do lift boil water notices, that it is done in accordance with the principles agreed and safe to do so - we are building confidence that we will be able to lift the boil water notices soon.
Our ice pigging work continues to progress in accordance with our phased approach across the remainder of the Hillhead and upper Brixham zones. We are very sorry to all those customers who remain on boil water notices but want to reassure them that we continue to work hard, in line with our phased approach to lifting, to restore water quality to normal, quickly and safely."
Last updated: 12:14 25/06/2024
21/06/2024
We are very sorry that we have not lifted the boil water notice for additional groups of customers this week. This situation is incredibly rare and highly complex; we are doing everything we possibly can to ensure the health of our customers and that drinking water will be restored to the high quality customers expect before we lift the notice.
We are seeing clear results coming through our sampling in Kingswear, which is providing confidence in the work that has been completed. We are working hard to ensure that, when we lift the notice, we lift safely and in line with the principles agreed with our Public Health Partners.
We continue to carry out intensive work in the Hillhead network to ensure we have ice pigged those water pipes and thank customers for their patience whilst this work continues.
Last updated: 15:53 21/06/2024
18/06/2024
Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer Officer at South West Water said: “As we continue to clean the network to be able to lift the boil water notices for customers, we held a community drop in session in Kingswear yesterday. It was great to speak with customers in person and explain what we are doing, what the sampling charts are showing us and why the lifting of the notice is taking time. We also talked to customers about what they need to do in order to clean their own household pipes.
We are incredibly grateful for the patience our customers have had throughout this incident and appreciate this is taking time to resolve. We know customers are as keen as we are to ensure we only lift the notice once it is safe to do so. We will begin removing the boil water notices in a phased approach.
Last updated: 15:26 18/06/2024
13/06/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water: “We are preparing for a phased approach to lifting the boil water notices as our progress to clean and protect the network develops. This will allow us to give people access to clean and safe drinking water quicker, where it is safe to do so.
We have completed ‘ice pigging’ of the Boohay network – this more aggressive approach to remove cryptosporidium utilises ice crystal technology, to scrape mineral deposits off the sides of the pipes. We also have a double layer of protection in place including the installation of microfilters and results show that our interventions are working.
We will proactively contact our customers when we are able to lift any boil water notices and will provide them with all of the necessary information and support.”
Last updated: 16:01 13/06/2024
12/06/2024
We are incredibly sorry for the continued disruption that customers in Hillhead, upper parts of Brixham and Kingswear are experiencing.
Whilst we have identified, removed and replaced the source of the contamination (damaged air valve casing on private land), there remains an extensive, and through, cleaning operation.
Our engineering teams are installing ultra violet treatment and specialised filters which will act as additional measures to protect the water from future contamination. This work is ongoing and complex, and our teams are working as quickly and as safely as possible. If you live in this area, and have not been contacted directly, then the boil water notice remains in place.
11/06/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water said “Last night we successfully commenced UV treatment at our Boohay supply tank. This follows the UV being operational at our Hillhead supply tank from 4 June.
In addition to our other interventions, the successful commissioning of this additional UV installation means that we now have a double layer of protection using UV and specialist microfilters across the Hillhead and Boohay water supply networks, to provide additional barriers.
We are pleased to say that progress is also being made in cleaning the network, through flushing and ice pigging across the network, targeting areas identified for further work through our sampling programme.”
Last updated: 14:30 11/06/2024
09/06/2024
Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer Officer at South West Water said: “Our teams continue to work day and night to clean our network.
We have identified the source of the contamination and replaced the damaged air valve casing.
As detailed work continues to clean and flush our network, we remind people that it is important to continue to use water around their homes for washing, cleaning and flushing toilets. Smaller pipes in customer homes compared with our network means water moves through home plumbing at a much greater speed creating enough force to clean the pipes in homes. However, please ensure water is boiled before any consumption like drinking and brushing teeth.
Our interventions are working, but this is taking time for which we are very sorry. We will continue to provide bottled water and support to all our customers, visitors and businesses impacted by this situation.”
Last updated: 12:03 09/06/2024
07/06/2024
Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer Officer at South West Water said: “We are working on the next phase of our detailed cleansing programme - using an ‘ice-pigging technique’ on our network. We do appreciate this is further disruption for our customers and it is taking time to work through. We can see from the sampling results that our interventions are working but there remains more to do to be confident it is safe to lift the boil water notice for customers across Kingswear, Upper Brixham and Hillhead.
In the meantime, our teams are out everyday meeting with customers, visitors and businesses, doing all they can to ensure people have bottled water and to answer any questions they may have. We are grateful to everyone who has taken the time to visit our community van and drop in sessions.”
Last updated: 12:22 07/06/2024
06/06/2024
Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer Office at South West Water said: “As our work continues, with colleagues working day and night to flush the network to remove any further contamination, we want to thank our customers, visitors and local businesses for their continued patience. Our teams are incredibly grateful for the kindness shown as they work hard to resolve this.
We are tonight starting further work to ice pig or high velocity flush larger pipes further into our network in the Boohay supply area – continuing our operational programme as we work hard to meticulously clean our network. We are sorry for the ongoing disruption this incident is causing, particularly for those customers affected by this work.
Our priority is the health of our customers, businesses and visitors. We would like to remind people that it is important to continue to use water around their homes for washing, cleaning and flushing toilets. As pipes in customer homes are smaller when compared with those on our network, water moves through home plumbing at a much greater speed cleaning customers pipes as they use water. However, please ensure water is boiled before any consumption like drinking, washing food and brushing teeth.
We are continuing to support our customers with water deliveries to their homes and businesses, as well as our customer van on the ground to answer customer questions and concerns.”
Last updated: 19:16 07/06/2024
05/06/2024
Laura Flowerdew, Chief Customer Office at South West Water said: “We are sorry for the ongoing disruption and concern this incident is causing. Our interventions are having an impact however it is taking time and we are continuing to flush around the clock to clean through our network.
We really appreciate how patient our customers are being during this process and how supportive they have been to our teams working hard to resolve this issue. Public health remains our absolute priority for all those living, working and visiting Hillhead, Upper Brixham and Kingswear and we are continuing to support all our customers with water deliveries to their homes and businesses, as well as our customer van on the ground to answer customer questions and concerns.”
04/06/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water said: “We completed the latest stage of flushing on the Hillhead network last night and we continue to flush to remove any last residual cryptosporidium across the area.
We have put multiple interventions in place to resolve this issue as quickly as possible – this work will protect the network impacted by cryptosporidium preventing any new contamination.
To completely flush any remaining cryptosporidium out of the system, high velocity and fast water speeds are required as well as intricate and aggressive scrubbing of the larger network pipes - through which high volumes of water flow at lower speeds. The more we flush, the closer we are to removing residual cryptosporidium. We are using multiple, industry leading approaches to completely remove it.
Our absolute priority is the health of our customers and visitors in Hillhead, Upper Brixham and Kingswear. We appreciate this is taking time to complete and we are very sorry for the disruption and concern this is causing – however, please be assured that our teams are working day and night to get this resolved. This level of complex and detailed operational work will continue until we are completely confident that it is safe to remove the boil water notice.”
Background
- People will continue to see activity from our teams in the coming days as we commence localised flushing.
03/06/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water said: "Our regular sampling results show we are making good progress with removing cryptosporidium from the water supply in Kingswear, Hillhead and upper parts of Brixham area.
"Our teams are continuing to complete our programme of work, which includes rigorous cleaning processes, as well as installation of additional protection measures, such as specialised filters and ultra violet treatment.
"In the meantime, we encourage people to continue to use water around their homes for washing, cleaning and flushing toilets. The smaller pipes in customer homes compared with our network means that water moves through home plumbing at a much greater speed. This speed of movement creates enough force to clean the pipes in customers’ homes and so it is important customers continue to ensure they use water, but boil it for any consumption like drinking and brushing teeth.
"We are working as quickly as possible to fix this situation. Public health remains our absolute priority and we will only lift the boil water notice when we are confident it is safe to do so and our public health partners agree. We will continue to keep customers and businesses up to date with progress.
"Our main priority is to return supply to the quality our customers expect and deserve, quickly and safely.”
02/06/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water said: "Our regular sampling results show we are making good progress with removing cryptosporidium from the water supply in Kingswear, Hillhead and upper parts of Brixham area.
"Our teams are continuing to complete our programme of work, which includes rigorous cleaning processes, as well as installation of additional protection measures, such as specialised filters and ultra violet treatment.
"In the meantime, we encourage people to continue to use water around their homes for washing, cleaning and flushing toilets. The smaller pipes in customer homes compared with our network means that water moves through home plumbing at a much greater speed. This speed of movement creates enough force to clean the pipes in customers’ homes and so it is important customers continue to ensure they use water, but boil it for any consumption like drinking and brushing teeth.
"We are working as quickly as possible to fix this situation. Public health remains our absolute priority and we will only lift the boil water notice when we are confident it is safe to do so and our public health partners agree. We will continue to keep customers and businesses up to date with progress.
"Our main priority is to return supply to the quality our customers expect and deserve, quickly and safely.”
Last updated: 13:04 02/06/2024
31/05/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water, said: “We continue to make progress with the latest phase of our cleaning work, which successfully started last night.
We are continuously testing water samples to check for the presence of Cryptosporidium. Our scientists then follow a detailed testing process which involves filtering a large volume of water through special filters designed to capture any Cryptosporidium ‘oocysts’. Our teams are working around the clock to flush and deep clean the systems to remove any remaining cryptosporidium.
Our water quality samples are showing good progress, however, further intense work is ongoing to fully remove any contamination.
We know this is frustrating and difficult for customers and businesses and we are sorry. We must be confident we have fixed this problem before we can safely lift the boil water notice.
Our teams of engineers and scientists are continue to work around the clock to clean the network and to put interventions in place to prevent this from happening again. Our main priority is to return supply to the quality our customers expect and deserve, quickly and safely.
30/05/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water, said: “Over the past week we have cleaned our reservoirs and flushed the network several times in an attempt to remove the remaining traces of cryptosporidium. Our water quality samples are showing progress, however, further intense work is needed to fully remove any contamination.
“The next stage of this cleaning work will start tonight on the water main between the Boohay supply tank and Kingswear. The cleaning process being used for this is known as ‘ice-pigging’.
“This is when an ice solution is pushed along pipes using water pressure, aggressively cleaning every surface. For the specific type of pipework in the area, this process is quicker and more efficient than the traditional methods. In combination, these multiple cleaning solutions should help to fix the problem.
“We are sorry that this is taking time. We need to be absolutely confident we have fixed this problem before we can safely lift the boil water notice. Our teams continue to work around the clock to clean the network and to put interventions in place to prevent this from happening again. Our top priority is to return supply to the quality our customer expect and deserve, quickly and safely.”
Background
Whilst work is being carried out, customers at affected properties may experience an interruption, low pressure and/or discolouration to their water supply. The work will require machinery and we anticipate that it will be noisy whilst in process. We apologise in advance for any disruption to customers and appreciate their continued patience and understanding.
As a result of the work if customers notice their water is discoloured, they may wish to run their taps until the water runs clear. To reflect the additional impact of this work, we will automatically apply a £50 credit to customer bills to offset any cost associated with running taps and compensation for the further inconvenience caused. We are communicating directly with customers about this and helping them to understand the processes we are following.
During the process the quality of the water in front, within and behind the ice plug is carefully monitored. Once the cleaning team are completely satisfied that the level of clean and water quality has been achieved, the pipe is returned to normal service.
We are advising customers that when this work is completed, they will still be on a boil water notice and will need to continue to observe the guidelines to boil water.
Benefits of Ice Pigging
- 50% less water used compared to other solutions
- 1000 times more effective than traditional flushing alone
- We are combining multiple solutions to address the cleaning to remove cryptosporidium
- This means there is no need to dig reducing disruption to customers and businesses
- This is harmless to public health
29/05/2024
Update from David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water:
“Over the past week we have cleaned our reservoirs and flushed the network several times in an attempt to remove the remaining traces of cryptosporidium. While our water quality samples are showing progress in recent days, further intense work is needed to fully remove any contamination.
“I am sorry this is taking time, but we need to be absolutely confident we have fixed this problem before we can safely lift the boil water notice.
“This morning, we have completed cleaning of the water mains after the Alston water supply area and leading into the Hillhead Supply Tank and fitted filters at the Boohay Supply Tank which will help prevent cryptosporidium entering the Kingswear part of the network. We are also undertaking a similar process to install filters at Hillhead Supply Tank over the coming days. We are also strengthening our interventions by putting ultraviolet light treatment at Hillhead this week which will also further prevent any future recurrence of this issue.
“Further aggressive scrubbing and cleaning of mains pipes is ongoing and our teams will continue to work around the clock until the job is done and we can safely lift the boil water notice.
“I want to reassure customers and businesses that we are doing everything we can to restore supply to the quality our customers expect and deserve and put interventions in place to prevent this from happening again.”
28/05/2024
Update from David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water:
“After a rigorous programme of cleaning and flushing, we are starting to see continued reductions of cryptosporidium in the Hillhead network. We are making good progress, but there is still more work to do. Our teams will continue to work around the clock until the job is done and we can safely lift the boil water notice.
“This has been a particularly difficult situation for businesses and local traders, especially over the Bank Holiday weekend. I know many are reporting a loss of footfall and anxiety amongst consumers. We are doing all we can to help affected businesses and urge them to contact our dedicated helpline on 03332 343 293 to fast track any compensation claim.
“I know this has caused inconvenience to our customers and businesses and we have a lot of work to do to rebuild trust with local people and rebuild confidence in our area. We will continue to engage with business groups, the local council and tourism bodies to ensure everyone knows this beautiful area is safe to visit and remains fully open for business.
“I want to thank customers for their continued patience as we work all hours to fix this problem.”
27/05/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water, said:
“Our engineering and network teams are continuing their work throughout Bank Holiday Monday, as we thoroughly clean, test and filter the affected water network.
"I'm sorry this is taking so long, but we need to be meticulous in resolving this problem before we can safely lift the boil water notice.
“In the meantime, we continue to deliver bottled water to properties every day across the boil water notice area. For those not at home, bottled water stations remain open between 7am and 9pm at Broadsands, Freshwater Quarry and Churston Car Boot field. We will keep all these sites open until the boil water notice is lifted.
“Customers can also visit our drop-in session in Kingswear Village Hall, and our community van is in Brixham today. Both are open between 11am and 4pm for customers with any concerns regarding the boil water notice, compensation, and support.
“We know how disruptive this continues to be, especially over the long weekend. We are making good progress, but there is more work to do. I am hugely grateful to customers for their patience, but also their kindness to our staff as we work to safely restore the water supply."
26/05/2024
David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water, said:
“I know how frustrating this situation will be for the 2,500 properties still affected in the Hillhead, upper Brixham and Kingswear area, especially over the bank holiday weekend. I want to reassure people that our teams are working around the clock to rigorously clean, test and install filters so we can restore your drinking water as soon as it is safe to do so.
“While good progress is being made, we will only lift the boil water notice when we and public health officials are fully confident it is safe to do so. This meticulous process does take time, and I am sorry for that, but public safety must be our first and foremost priority.
“While we urgently fix the problem, our teams are continuing to deliver bottled water to properties each day across the boil water notice area. Bottled water stations in Broadsands, Freshwater Quarry and Churston also remain open between 7am and 9pm every day.
“Our community drop-in location is in Kingswear Village Hall over the bank holiday weekend and our community van is in Brixham. Both are open from 11am – 4pm for customers to ask questions regarding the boil water notice, compensation and support available.
“I want to thank local people for their patience while we work to resolve this situation.”
25/05/2024
South West Water continues 24/7 supply restoration work throughout bank holiday weekend
South West Water is continuing its investigation and supply restoration work in the Hillhead, Upper Brixham and Kingswear areas without interruption across the bank holiday weekend.
More than 110 engineers, network operations technicians, customer service specialists, water quality scientists, general staff and contractors continue to work 24/7 in cleaning, flushing and testing our network, focused on the Hillhead / Upper Brixham and Kingswear storage tanks and their associated water networks.
The whole team are working quickly, safely and methodically to ensure that cryptosporidium is removed from the system. The health of our customers remains our absolute priority and we are working closely with our public health partners. Together, we will lift the boil water notice when it is categorically safe to do so.
South West Water is responsible for providing customers with clean and safe drinking water and we take that responsibility very seriously. This incident should not have happened.
We have previously announced that we are providing compensation to customers beyond our statutory obligations. We have already increased compensation payments for affected customers to £265 per household. Increases to compensation payments remain under constant review.
Incident Director, David Harris, said:
“We want to express our thanks again to our remaining affected customers for their ongoing patience, as we work to restore supply.
“We know how disruptive this is for you, especially during the long bank holiday weekend. We’re working around the clock, but the process takes time. We will lift the boil water notice as soon as is safely possible.”
24/05/2024
"We are sorry for the continued disruption that customers in the Hillhead supply area are experiencing. The health and safety of our customers remains our number one priority and we're working tirelessly to resolve the situation as quickly and as safely as possible.
“We remain focused on cleaning, flushing and testing our network and will continue to keep customers updated on how this is progressing.
“In order to lift the boil water notice, we will continue work closely with our Public Health partners and will only do so when it's absolutely safe.
"The health of our customers remains our main priority and we will lift the boil water notice when it is absolutely safe to do so.”
Background
We are making good progress with the cleaning operation across the supply area.
Testing at our Hillhead Supply Tank haves now recorded three consecutive days of clear samples. However, the Hillhead water network, Boohay Supply Tank and associated network is still showing low levels of cryptosporidium so we are repeating the cycle of flushing and cleaning and will be taking further tests later today.
We are also continuing to work with our Public Health partners.
Our teams are delivering bottled water to all customers affected by this ongoing situation. In addition, bottled water stations in Broadsands, Freshwater Quarry and Churston will stay open between 7am and 9pm every day, including Bank Holiday Monday.
Our drop-in centre will be moving to Kingswear Village Hall (TQ6 0AD) on Saturday, Sunday and Monday between 11am and 4pm to help customers and businesses with questions and concerns.
Customers and businesses can also visit our community van at New Pier (TQ5 8AJ) from Saturday to Monday between 11am and 4pm where our teams will be on hand.”
23/05/2024
"We're working around the clock to resolve the situation for the 2,500 households impacted across the Hillhead supply area.
"Our number one priority is the health and safety of our customers. Yesterday (22 May) over 40 South West Water crews began delivering bottled water to properties across the boil water notice area.
"Bottled water stations in Broadsands, Freshwater Quarry and Churston remain open between 7am and 9pm every day. On Tuesday (21 May), a drop-in centre opened in Brixham, which is open to customers with questions regarding compensation and support available to affected households.
"Our community van is back in Kingswear today from 12-5:30pm, you can find us parked up on Brixham road off the B3205. The team will be able to help with any queries or concerns you have following the boil water notice.
"Our operations teams are working tirelessly to eliminate any traces of cryptosporidium, and we are continuing to flush and clean the system. We will not lift the boil water notice for those affected until we and our public health partners are absolutely satisfied it is safe to do so.
"Separately, investigations into the damaged air valve installation on private land, which we believe to be the cause, are ongoing.
"We are hugely grateful to our customers for their kind support to our teams that are out trying to fix the issue and support our customers in the local area as quickly as possible."
Update on compensation
We apologise for the continued impact the boil notice is having on customers in the Hillhead, upper parts of Brixham and Kingswear areas.
We're increasing the standard compensation for customers as it's the right thing to do. Household customers still under a boil notice will now receive £265 compensation in total.
We would like to remind household customers that they do not have to do anything to receive this payment. It will be processed automatically today, and will either be received into customer bank accounts early next week where we have direct debit details, or applied as a credit to their account today, and will show on their next bill, where we do not. For businesses, the payment will be made via their retailer.
Businesses impacted by the boil notice will receive our standard £15 customer promise, and are invited to contact us on our dedicated business line (03332 343 293, open 9am to 7pm Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday 9am to 2pm) to discuss the impact the incident has had on their business and the compensation appropriate to them.
21/05/2024
“Our teams continue to work at pace to resolve the situation in the Hillhead supply area. The boil water notice continues to remain in place to around 2,500 households in the Hillhead supply area.
“Our investigation into the damaged air valve installation on private land, which we believe to be the probable cause, continues. Following the draining and cleaning of the reservoir, we have refilled the largest of the two tanks within the reservoir and have isolated the second tank.
“The health and safety of our customers remains our absolute priority. Early yesterday morning (20 May), we began 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.
“We would like to thank our customers for their patience as we work around the clock to resolve the situation.
“Our bottled water stations in Broadsands, Freshwater Quarry and Churston remain open to customers across the Brixham area between 7am and 9pm daily.”
Background
• On Saturday (18 May) we advised around 14,500 properties in the Alston supply area they no longer need to boil their drinking water. This followed several water quality monitoring results last week confirming no cryptosporidium. Daily water quality monitoring will continue across Hillhead and Alston supply areas.
• We continue to urge customers who are unsure whether they are still affected by a boil water notice to check South West Water’s website, or to call the dedicated customer contact team.
• Compensation has been increased to £215 – almost half the amount of an annual average bill - for those customers still subject to boil water advice in the Hillhead, upper Brixham and Kingswear areas. This payment will be made automatically where we have direct debit details or applied as a credit to their next water bill where we do not.
• We have 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.
• Affected businesses should contact SWW’s customer service team on 03332 343 293 to fast track any compensation claims.
20/05/2024
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.
19/05/2024
David Harris, Drought and Resilience Director at South West Water said: “Over 200 South West Water staff and our contractors are on the ground today working to urgently 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 have already identified a probable cause at Hillhead - a damaged air valve on private land - and are urgently investigating how this happened. The Hillhead reservoir has been successfully drained, thoroughly cleaned, and we will start refilling today. We will also start flushing the wider Hillhead network today, which is being continuously monitored 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.
“I want to again apologise for the immense disruption this is causing. This should not have happened, and I promise we will fix this problem as soon as possible.
“Yesterday we advised around 14,500 properties in the Alston supply area they no longer need to boil their drinking water. This followed several water quality monitoring results this week confirming no cryptosporidium. I want to reassure customers that daily water quality monitoring will continue across Hillhead and Alston supply areas.
“As of last night, our team has successfully completed letterbox deliveries informing residents who are still subject to a boil water notice. We continue to urge customers who are unsure whether they are still affected by a boil water notice to check South West Water’s website, or to call our dedicated customer contact team today.
“We know the profound impact this is having on families. Compensation has been increased to £215 - almost half the amount of an annual average bill - for those customers still subject to boil water advice in the Hillhead, upper Brixham and Kingswear areas. This payment will be made automatically where we have direct debit details or applied as a credit to their next water bill where we do not.
“We also know this situation is already having an impact on tourism ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend and stand ready to support our local traders and businesses. I urge affected businesses to contact our customer service team on 03332 343 293 so we can fast track any compensation claims.
“Our bottled water stations in Broadsands, Freshwater Quarry and Churston will remain open to customers across the Brixham area. We have handed out and delivered almost 480,000 bottles of water since the start of the incident, including direct deliveries to vulnerable customers and schools, hospitals and care homes.”
18/05/2024
David Harris, Drought and Resilience Director at South West Water said: "Our overriding priority must be the health and safety of our customers. Over the past four days, we have been working tirelessly to identify and resolve this issue. We are deeply sorry for the impact this disruption is having on daily lives.
“We have set up water collection points at Fresh Water Quarry Public Car Park (TQ5 8BA), Broadsands Car Park (TQ4 6HX) and Churston Car Boot Sale Field (TQ4 7BQ), which are open over the weekend, and our ground teams have been working hard, delivering over 386,000 bottles of water so far.
“To support customers while we continue to resolve this issue, our compensation payment has been increased to £115. This payment will be made automatically where we have direct debit details or applied as a credit to customers’ next water bill where we do not. Customers do not need to take any action.
“As part of our ongoing investigation, a damaged valve on private land has been identified as the possible cause, which has since been isolated from the network and repaired. As you would expect, we are urgently investigating how this happened, while working to rule out any other possible sources of contamination elsewhere in the network.
“The water tank at Hillhead reservoir, where tests confirmed the presence of cryptosporidium earlier this week, was drained overnight and will be thoroughly cleaned today. Once complete, we will start refilling the water tank later today. Officials from the Drinking Water Inspectorate are also on site to monitor progress, and daily testing continues to take place at points throughout our network.
“We want to reassure customers and businesses that we will only lift the boil water notices when it is absolutely safe to do so.”
17/05/2024
We would like to reassure customers that we are continuing to work closely with the UK Health Security Agency and other public health partners to urgently investigate the source of the contamination. Our ground teams are working hard, around the clock, to identify and then resolve the issue as quickly as we can.
In the meantime, bottled water stations continue to be available for customers at Fresh Water Quarry Public Car Park (TQ5 8BA) and Broadsands Car Park (TQ4 6HX). As of 10am today we will also be hosting a bottled water station from Churston Car Boot Sale Field (TQ4 7BQ). We continue to deliver bottled water for those customers that need it.
In recognition of the impact to customers, we have increased our compensation to customers in the area to £115. We are sincerely sorry for the impact this is having, and we will continue to keep everyone updated via our website and social media.
15/05/2024
Customers in Alston and the Hillhead area of Brixham are advised to boil their drinking water before consuming following new test results for cryptosporidium.
We are issuing this notice following small traces of the organism identified overnight and this morning. We are working with the UK Health Security Agency and other public health partners to urgently investigate and eliminate the source.
We apologise for the inconvenience caused and will continue to keep customers and businesses updated. Bottled water stations will be set up in the affected areas as soon as possible.
Background
- The data from our tests over the last several weeks showed that the treated water leaving our treatment works was not contaminated. However, in the Hillhead section of our network further tests taken overnight and working with the advice of UK Health Security Agency we have found small traces of cryptosporidium and are therefore issuing the boil water notice.
- We ask that customers informed of the notice do not drink tap water without first boiling it and allowing it to cool.
- This should also be done for preparing or cooking food or cleaning teeth. Boiled water can be stored in a covered container in the fridge for 24 hours.
Water can continue to be used as normal for washing, bathing and toilet flushing. - Cryptosporidium can cause sickness and diarrhoea if consumed – drinking water can become contaminated due to various reasons, but we are fully investigating the cause. If people have consumed the water and feel unwell, they should follow the advice on UKHSA's website here: www.gov.uk/guidance/cryptosporidium-public-advice
- Boil water notices will be hand delivered to affected customers and the postcodes impacted by the notice are listed on our website.