South West Water yesterday lifted the boil water notice for a further 731 properties in the Summercombe and Chestnut Drive supply zone – but it still remains in place for another 678 properties on a different part of the network.

Last week saw the removal of the boil water notice for properties in the Kingswear, Noss Marina, Hillhead Park and Raddicombe supply zones. The water company said it has now removed 15,368 people from boil water notices.

David Harris, Incident Director at South West Water, said:

“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.”

“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.”

Since the event began following the discovery of cryptosporidium in its supply network, South West Water has identified, removed and replaced the source of the contamination, a damaged air valve casing on private land.

The 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 protective barriers to remove cryptosporidium within the network.

The network has been flushed 27 times and filters have been installed while laying over 1.2km of new pipework. Alongside this work, South West Water teams have surveyed the pipes using specialised cameras and conducted regular sampling. The sample results have shown that ice pigging is highly effective in removing cryptosporidium from the network, allowing the utility to return the supply to normal once the work is complete and the network has settled.

"We cannot and will not underestimate the impact this has had on people"

David Harris continued:

“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.

“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.

“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.”

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