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Monday, 03 June 2024 06:32

Cryptosporidium incident - boil water notice remains in place for Alston and Hillhead area of Brixham

South West Water’s latest update issued yesterday about the recent discovwery of cryptosporidium in its water network says says the boil water notice still remains in place for a number of customers in the Alston and Hillhead area of Brixham.

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The company has been combining multiple solutions to address the cleaning to remove cryptosporidium.

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….

"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."

The company is continuously testing water samples to check for the presence of Cryptosporidium. Its scientists then follow a detailed testing process which involves filtering a large volume of water through special filters designed to capture any Cryptosporidium ‘oocysts’.

Over the past week South West Water has cleaned reservoirs and flushed the network several times in an attempt to remove the remaining traces of cryptosporidium. While the water quality samples are “showing progress”, the company said that “further intense work” is needed to fully remove any contamination. “

The cleaning process has included the use of ‘ice-pigging’ - an ice solution is pushed along pipes using water pressure, aggressively cleaning every surface. Other benefits of the process include using 50% less water used compared to other solutions and that it is “1000 times more effective” than traditional flushing alone.

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