South West Water fined £1.85m over parasite outbreak in Devon | Water

A utility company has been fined £1.85 million for supplying water unfit for human consumption after a parasite outbreak sickened hundreds of people and forced thousands of households to boil their water.

South West Water (SWW) has pleaded guilty to an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Brixham, Devon, in the spring and summer of 2024.

Judge Smith said: “This was a serious failure by South West Water. The harm caused was far-reaching, multi-layered and profound.”

The judge said water companies were “regional monopolies” with “stationary customers” and that the pandemic had led to a persistent distrust of local tap water. “We are lucky to have good drinking water in this country, but we have lost confidence in our water supply,” he quoted one resident as saying.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said this was a record fine for a drinking water offence.

Joe Millington, from the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), who brought the case, said schools and other services had been affected and the local economy had been affected. Millington said what happened had “significantly undermined” people’s confidence in the water supply.

He told Exeter magistrates that the outbreak was most likely caused by the failure of an air valve on farmland where cattle and sheep were kept. It was covered in mud and a seal had been broken, pooling water across the field.

Millington also said the air valves SWW installed “were not inspected in accordance with policy.” [SWW] “It was prepared in 2020.”

He said the farm was never inspected. “This was a high-risk area,” Millington added. People experienced diarrhea, stomach cramps, dizziness and nausea, and 537 people fell ill, 159 of whom contacted the health system and 10 were hospitalized, the prosecutor said.

He said court officers had been affected physically and emotionally and the pandemic had had a “profound” impact on vulnerable members of society and children.

Millington read statements from some of those affected. One person who required hospital treatment said: “My illness felt like I had been beaten up and it was a long process to get over it.”

Another said the water tasted like it was coming from a lake and they almost lost a stone. The third said that his son needed a drip in the hospital. “The hospital was really scary. Extremely scared and stressed.” Afterwards, he would only bathe in bottled water because he was too scared.

One woman said that during the weeks the boil ban was in effect, she had to watch her four-year-old child shower to make sure he didn’t drink the water. Another parent said her child had night terrors due to a “bug in the water.”

School students talked about missing lessons, exams, trips and sports. One said he felt too sick to revise for exams.

Mark Eager, principal of Brixham College at the time, said school attendance and GCSE results were affected, particularly for disadvantaged children.

At one point during the crisis, SWW mistakenly lifted boil water orders for 28 homes due to “issues with the digital mapping system,” Millington said.

The risks associated with air valves have been known for more than 10 years, and DWI recommended companies have formal inspection policies in place four years before the outbreak, the lawyer said. But he added: “Not a single air valve was inspected.”

SWW’s Dominic Kay KC said the company apologized unreservedly and was truly remorseful.

He said SWW had established a policy on air valve inspection following the DWI recommendation but accepted that this had not been implemented.

The attorney said he believes there was a second introduction of cryptosporidiosis from the farm into the water system. Authorities said they found illegal “cross-connections” — connections between safe drinking water and water unfit for human consumption — when they investigated after the outbreak. The company believes that cryptosporidiosis first entered the mains water through these cross-connections and then through the air valve.

Kay also said the valve cover was intentionally removed, causing mud, soil and water to accumulate around it.

He told the court the company warned people to boil water as soon as it became clear there was a problem.

The court heard SWW had 22 convictions since June 2014, including in North Devon in 2018 for supplying water unfit for human consumption.

Liberal Democrat South Devon MP Caroline Voaden said: “Words like incompetent and reckless are used so often to describe our poor water industry that they have almost lost their meaning. But the truth is that South West Water has failed in its most basic duty and no amount of money will fully restore the customer trust they have squandered.”

South West Water water services general manager David Harris said: “We fully cooperated with the Drinking Water Inspectorate throughout the investigations and until the end of the legal process.

“We again apologize to our customers who have been affected and have always taken full responsibility for the water supplied.”

The company pleaded guilty under the Water Industry Act 1991. He faced an unlimited fine.