Displaying items by tag: South West Water

South West Water (SWW) has stated that the cost of addressing the cryptosporidium outbreak in Devon will be covered by shareholders, not customers. The outbreak affected up to 16,000 households, with about 700 still being advised to boil their tap water. SWW estimated compensation costs up to £3.5 million but assured customers this would not impact their bills. The exact compensation amount for those affected remains unknown. SWW has installed equipment to remove the parasite and flushed the water network 27 times, apologising and thanking customers for their patience. By the end of May, at least 100 confirmed cases of cryptosporidium, which causes diarrhoea and sickness, had been reported. In related news, all the major political parties have been urged to follow the recommendations of the Save Britain’s Rivers campaign: so far, only the Lib Dems have committed to this. See

More than fifty cases of cryptosporidium have been confirmed in Brixham, Devon; around 17,000 households were instructed to boil their water. The Health Security Agency reported 57 cases, up by eleven since last Friday, with more expected. Pennon Group, South West Water's parent company, announced £3.5m in compensation for affected customers while reporting £166.3m in profits. The boil water notice has been lifted for 14,500 homes but remains for 2,500. The outbreak, probably caused by animal faeces entering a damaged pipe, has led to increased health measures and support for local businesses.

On 25 April, Labour accused the Tories of turning the green land into an 'open sewer' after they tabled an amendment to Labour’s sewage bill. The environment secretary, Thérèse Coffey, said that people are ‘rightly disgusted’ about the excessive sewage dumped into rivers, and the Government would be making sewage reduction targets legally binding. Pray for our government to agree to a reform of the water industry that is both successful and economically sound. Also, on the same day a hosepipe ban came into force across most of Devon to help replenish water supplies ahead of the summer. An earlier ban, covering Cornwall and a small part of Devon, is still in place. 390,000 homes are affected by the restriction.