Pub boils '30 litres' of water a day amid outbreak

Pub landlady Hannah Canu said the pub has had to boil at least 30 litres of water every morning since the start of the outbreak

A pub landlady who has had to boil water every day since Devon's water supply became infected nearly six weeks ago has described the situation as a "nightmare".

Cryptosporidium, which can cause diarrhoea and sickness, was found in the water supply in Brixham on 15 May.

South West Water (SWW) announced on Wednesday the boil water notice had been lifted for 902 properties in the Kingswear, Noss Marina, Hillhead Park and Raddicombe supply zones. The notice remained in place for 1,350 households.

Landlady of Kingswear The Ship Inn Hannah Canu, where the boil notice has now been lifted, said they had been waking up every morning and boiling "at least 30 litres of water" for use in the pub.

"We have to boil it to cook with it and every 24 hours that water has to be thrown out and you have to re-boil the water," said Ms Canu.

"We also have to use bottled water to do the beer lines and it is just a nightmare, it really is.

"I'm really angry," she said. "I'm angry that they (SWW) haven't helped us more. They have made people sick."

Hannah Canu said there had been a decrease in tourism since the outbreak began

SWW said the Summercombe, Chestnut Drive, Higher Brixham and Southdown supply areas remain under the boil water notice restriction.

The water company had lifted the first boil water notice for 21 households supplied off the Hillhead to Boohay main on 14 June.

Roger Matthews said South West Water had tried to make sure residents and businesses in Kingswear had everything they needed during the outbreak

Roger Matthews, owner of the Kingswear Coffee Company, said the outbreak had not had a "terrible impact" on his business.

"I was quite lucky because the coffee machine I use is compliant, the dishwasher the same. I have to rinse everything and I use bottled water for that," said Mr Matthews.

He said SWW had been supplying him with free bottled water daily.

Although he has noticed a "drop in business due to the water situation" he said he believed that tourism was down anyway.

"Since it happened, SWW have really tried hard to make sure everyone has what they need, apart from clean water from the taps," he said.

"They are trying but have not quite achieved it yet."

Lynne Maurer said local residents and businesses were having a really hard time

Chair of Kingswear Parish Council Lynne Maurer said the communication between residents, businesses and SWW was a "problem sometimes".

She said the problem was that it could be "repetitive" and "it sometimes lacks in detail".

She also said the people on the ground were "working extremely hard" and were giving residents and businesses as much information as they could.

"People and businesses are having a really hard time.

"The worry is residents are being told after three clear days the boil notice will be lifted but this doesn't seem to be the case," she added.

"How long is this actually going to last? What is the effect going to be on the people who are already ill and are still ill."

Zanne Henderson said the lifting of the boil notice had made no difference to her

Zanne Henderson, owner of the Sea Shack in Kingswear, said the lifting of the boil water notice had "made no difference whatsoever".

"I won't trust the water at the moment," she said.

"A lot of us became ill before we even knew about it.

"We were told if we were feeling unwell to drink a lot more water."

Ms Henderson said the residents of Kingswear were now being supported but to start with she felt "ignored" by SWW.

"We are Kingswear, we are the end of the line here," she said.

'Building confidence'

David Harris, Incident director at SWW, said following "intensive work and monitoring the network has returned to normal and water supplies now meet the high standards" customers expect.

He added: "We are still working in these areas to return the network to normal and will continue to communicate with these customers to keep them up to date.

"Since this event began, we have identified, removed and replaced the source of the contamination, a damaged air valve casing on private land.

"We have also thoroughly cleaned our network, using advanced techniques, and added a double layer of protection using ultraviolet treatment and specialist microfilters to provide additional barriers."

South West Water said they were sorry to all the customers who remain on the boil water notices

He said SWW network technicians, engineers, water quality scientists and contractors had worked "day and night over many weeks" to fix the issue.

Mr Harris also explained the notice lifted in line with the principles agreed with public health partners, including the UK Health Security Agency and the local authority's Environmental Health department.

"We want to thank our customers, visitors, and local businesses who remain on boil water notices for their continued patience throughout this rare and challenging situation and we are confident that we will be able to announce the next phases of lifting soon.”