‘I went to hospital after drinking tap water. Now my water bill has gone up 62 per cent in two years’

A mother-of-four who helped uncover a cryptosporidiosis epidemic in a Devon town after falling ill while drinking tap water said the inflation-busting increase in her bill had made her even more frustrated by the ordeal.

Tanya Matthews went to hospital for a colonoscopy after months of symptoms including diarrhoea and stomach cramps after the parasite was released into Brixham’s water supply.

He was one of the first people to raise the alarm after posting on a local social media group that triggered a wave of comments from others experiencing the same symptoms. The day after the post, South West Water confirmed it had found traces of cryptosporidiosis.

The water company under fire admitted supplying water unfit for human consumption in May 2024 during a hearing at Exeter Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.

The court heard that the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s view of the June penalty was that the firm’s actions were “reckless”; This claim was rejected by his lawyer at the hearing.

The criminal complaint comes after South West Water warned customers of an average six per cent increase in household water bills from £701 to £740; Ms Matthews also said the 2026/27 bill was £696.82, up 11% from £624.99 in 2025/26 and a 62% increase from £440.13 in 2024/25.

The 2024/25 bill included a government contribution of £50 and was paid mostly through inconvenience payments.

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In the past year, the company has dealt with the cryptosporidiosis crisis as well as sewage leak cases.

Ms Matthews, a carer for one of his children, said: Independent: “Our town and its people were literally brought to their knees by the pandemic two years ago and we are working hard to hold South West Water to account following the case being presented to the court this week.

“I was pleased when they pleaded guilty but when I heard them say they weren’t reckless I immediately got angry again because in my eyes they were when it took them so long to tell people to stop drinking water.

“It’s very frustrating, especially when I found out in a letter last week that our bill is going up again. We’ve seen a huge increase since two years ago. We’re paying more for drinking water supply and I still don’t dare drink it.”

The 42-year-old boy first became aware of the problem when the people living on his street started feeling unwell and the number of people at the school gates decreased. The woman called South West Water after she noticed a “terrible” taste in her mouth after drinking the water and then developed stomach cramps.

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He claimed the water company had said tap water was safe to drink despite confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis, so he shared his symptoms in a post on Facebook and found 1,200 people had commented by the next morning.

The firm subsequently issued a “boil notice”; This meant people were told to boil water before drinking after it was confirmed that traces of the parasite were found in the network.

Ms Matthews, who said she had received a £4,000 compensation settlement from the company, said: “It was too late. As a precaution, the company should have published the notice much earlier. We could have seen fewer people become infected as a result.”

With the notification coming into force, South West Water has established water bottle collection points; but, as highlighted in court this week, the impact was significant for society, with lost revenue for businesses and school closures.

company he said he had I “learned valuable lessons” from the incident, including the importance of early detection. Water services general manager David Harris wrote: “Our processes did not detect this outbreak early enough and we therefore need to work to improve our monitoring technologies so that contaminants can be detected more quickly and accurately.”

A spokesman said on Wednesday: “We would like to reiterate our full and unreserved apologies for the impact of the incident in the Brixham area in 2024. We have co-operated fully with the Drinking Water Inspectorate throughout the investigations. Today is another phase of this legal process which we will continue to support.”

The company said it has since cleaned and flushed its water system network almost 30 times and installed special filters and purification systems. More than £1 million has been invested in the area through a “marketing recovery fund”.

Commenting on the increase in water bills, customer manager Ketan Hindocha said: “We know that any increase in customer bills is not welcomed and these decisions are not taken lightly.

“We are investing more than ever before in our regions through 2030 to deliver improvements on our customers’ top priorities. This record investment represents a step change, and these increases will support that progress. This includes continuing to provide safe, clean drinking water, significantly reducing the use of storm floods, and protecting the environment to create a future we can all be proud of.”

The company will not comment on Ms. Matthew due to the ongoing criminal case.