Water parasite boil notice lifted for more homes

Cryptosporidium can cause diarrhoea and sickness

A notice to boil water has been lifted for residents of more than 700 properties in Devon.

The notices followed an outbreak of cryptosporidium in Brixham and surrounding communities in May - at one stage 16,000 properties were affected.

South West Water (SWW) said on Tuesday the boil water notice had been lifted for 731 properties in the Summercombe and Chestnut Drive area - the notice remains in place for 678 households in the Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary's areas.

The company said it was "still working" in the areas where the notice remains to return the water to normal.

David Harris from South West Water said the firm had flushed the network 27 times since the work started in May

Mr Harris said: "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."

Mr Harris said since the work started, SWW had "flushed" the network 27 times, installed filters, and had laid over 1.2km of new pipework.

He added: "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."