Boil water notice fully lifted after two months

Now 674 properties are safe to drink tap water

Hundreds of homes in south Devon have been told their water is safe to drink two months after a boil notice was put in place due to a parasite outbreak.

Traces of cryptosporidium, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea, were first found in the water supply in the Brixham area in May - at one stage 16,000 properties were told not to drink the water.

South West Water (SWW) said boil water notices had now been lifted for the remaining 674 properties in Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary's.

David Harris, the firm's incident director, said he wanted to reassure everyone "that their water supply meets the high standards they rightly expect".

'Truly sorry'

The firm has been progressively removing the notice since May.

SWW said the decision to fully lift the notice was made in line with the principles agreed with public health partners.

It said the source of the contamination – a damaged air valve casing on private land – was identified, removed and replaced.

SWW said it "flushed" the network, installed filters, and had laid new pipework.

Mr Harris said: "The last two months have had a significant impact on the people and businesses of Brixham and for that we are truly sorry.

"Nothing matters more than the health and safety of our customers and we are pleased we can now reassure everyone that their water supply meets the high standards they rightly expect."

The company said it had handed out more than one million bottles of water since the start of the outbreak.

It said it had also delivered more than 390,000 bottles of water directly to people's homes.