South West Water sorry for boil water notice delay

Dan Wareing - Journalist, Devon
·1-min read
Bottled water being handed out
In a post to social media, South West Water thanked customers for their "continued patience" [BBC]

South West Water (SWW) has apologised for failing to lift boil water notices for additional groups of customers this week following a parasite outbreak in May.

The company said they "are seeing clear results" in Kingswear, but they had to lift the notice in line with advice from public health partners.

SWW has previously said it was still advising about 2,073 households in the wider Hillhead, upper Brixham and Kingswear areas to continue to boil their drinking water.

About 2,500 homes in the area were under notice after cryptosporidium, which can cause diarrhoea and sickness, was found in the water supply on 15 May.

Earlier this month 21 households had their notices lifted.

South West Water added it would continue to "carry out intensive work in the Hillhead network", ice-pigging water pipes, where an ice solution is pushed along pipes using water pressure to help clean them.

The company thanked customers for their patience.

On Monday, the company will be holding a drop-in session in Kingswear Hall for residents of Hillhead who want to learn more abut the process of ice-pigging.

On Tuesday there will be a session for residents in the Brixham area who "are still concerned about the quality of their drinking water", in Brixham Town Hall.

Both sessions will be held between 15:00 and 18:00 BST.

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