‘Why didn’t they warn us sooner?’ How a parasite tore through a Devon town’s water supply
For Jessica Blake, 37, of Portsmouth, her recent family holiday to the sleepy fishing port of Brixham should have ticked all the boxes.
The May sun emerged from behind the clouds, the boats were bobbing in the harbour, and days were spent with her family strolling the shingley beach and walking the lush green cliff tops before tucking into fish and chips. But the rest and relaxation she experienced over her four-day stay did not last. As soon as she returned home to Portsmouth, Blake fell ill with severe nausea, stomach cramps and diarrhoea.
Speaking to The Telegraph from her bed, she says she is certain she has cryptosporidium – a waterborne parasite that is currently in the South West Water supply and affecting much of Devon.
“I have had severe diarrhoea and felt fluey and achy with no energy since Tuesday,” she says. “I can’t eat anything and have been to the toilet 15 times in the space of 24 hours.
The doctor says if I stop urinating, I need to go to A&E. And what’s worse is that my dog – an eight-year-old shih tzu called Toby – is also ill with diarrhoea. He’s been really ill.”
As upsetting as this is for Blake, she is far from alone. According to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) some 22 people have now been officially diagnosed with having contracted cryptosporidium. Hundreds more have fallen ill and are awaiting official test results, while more than 40,000 homes have been left unable to use tap water and advised to either boil their supply or drink bottled water.
The disease, which affects both humans and animals, is known to be caused by groundwater contaminated by sewage or manure seeping into the water supply, infecting people, and then spreading by touch. But locals and holidaymakers like Blake have questioned how the contamination happened and whether South West Water could have warned people sooner to prevent them becoming ill.
“I’ve never had a stomach bug like it,” says Blake. “I haven’t been able to work for a week, and I won’t get compensation as I don’t live in Brixham. I’m also very aware that I was on holiday from May 6 to May 10, and South West Water only announced the contamination and warned people to boil water on May 15 – a week or so later.
“I want to know how they let this happen? Did they hide it? Were they incompetent? They need to be investigated.”
It is a question echoed by Conservative MP Anthony Mangnall, MP for Totnes and South Devon: “It is extremely frustrating that South West Water weren’t quicker to respond to reports of illness, and they initially denied that it was anything to do with their network.
“South West Water [needs to] clean up their act, provide support for residents and sort this out once and for all.”
And it’s not just local people who are questioning the time it took to identify the outbreak. “We are actively investigating the cause, the extent of the contamination, and the actions taken by the water company,” says a spokesman for the Drinking Water Inspectorate, the body responsible for the nation’s safe water. “Our investigation will assess the timeliness of the company response and whether there were any shortcomings in the actions taken to protect consumers.”
It is this timeline from South West Water that, as the story unfolds, looks set to come under intense scrutiny. The company – already under fire for its poor pollution record (two years ago, it received a one-star rating from the Environment Agency, and was heavily criticised by water regulator Ofwat in February this year) – has said it was first notified by UKHSA of cryptosporidium in its water late on May 13.
At this time, it says, its own monitoring suggested there was “no presence” of cryptosporidium in the water supply – which again may be an issue for investigation. It then carried out further monitoring in the Brixham area – identifying “small traces of the organism in the supply early Wednesday morning (15 May)”.
“We then acted immediately on that data, issuing the boil water notice affecting about 44,000 people,” the company says.
It is now spending all its resources on locating the source and managing the situation. But it is the locals who have been left to deal with the fallout. In scenes reminiscent of Covid, the crisis seems to have brought out both the best and worst in people.
Some have been panic-buying water, with shops across the region being cleaned out of supplies. But others have set up distribution points and been banding together to deliver water to those in need, and check in on vulnerable neighbours and children, who are more likely to be affected by the disease.
A local fruit and veg store spent £400 on water, offering free bottles free to the vulnerable, while the main school, Eden Park Primary and Nursery, closed for just one day before managing to open when water supplies came in.
“I, like others, have been driving around non-stop getting water to people,” says Andrew Strang, Torbay Conservative councillor. “I know some want to criticise the water company, but I think that now is not the time.”
Others however are not so easily appeased. Jacky Hopper, 59, also fell ill alongside her three grandchildren Luca, nine, Mia, seven, and Ella, three, before the warning from South West Water.
“My grandchildren came to stay with me on May 5,” she says. “Two days later, Mia was sick all night and I had to change her bedding three times. A day later it was Ella, and then Luca got it. They were all just being sick constantly and had diarrhoea. They were really very ill.”
After looking after her grandchildren, Jacky then fell ill herself on May 12 – three days before the warning was issued.
“I really didn’t know what it was until I saw the warning from South West Water,” she says.
“From what I have heard, people were contacting the company to say they were sick, and the company was insisting the water was fine and just letting people keep drinking it. How could they do that?”
At the Compass House Medical Centre in the heart of Brixham, GPs said they were too busy dealing with patients to talk to The Telegraph, while the local Silverton Vets also reported chaos.
“Since last week, we’ve seen a huge rise in the numbers of people ringing to say their pets are ill with vomiting and diarrhoea,” a spokesman told us. “We’ve had about 20 calls about poorly dogs and five calls about cats. We haven’t officially tested these animals for cryptosporidium, but we are sure it is that. Pet owners need to give their animals bottled water, and even wash their paws in this, in case they lick them.”
Meanwhile, local hospitality owners are saying the crisis has affected trade – and criticise the £100 compensation offered to residents by South West Water – a figure that began as £15, and was then upped after the backlash.
Stephen King, 47, the owner of the Harbour View guest house and Brixham Holiday Homes, says: “I’ve had three cancellations at my guest house, at a personal loss of £1,200.
“And the holiday home business has seen five cancellations, so that’s £5,000 lost to the individual property owners, and I’ve lost my commission. Will we get compensation for that from the water company? I doubt it.”
Meanwhile, there has been some development on finding the source.
On Friday/yesterday, Laura Flowerdew, South West Water’s chief customer officer, confirmed the contamination is thought to be a broken air valve contaminated by animal faeces near the Hillhead Reservoir.
“We understand this is a damaged air valve on one of the pipes heading towards the reservoir in a farmer’s field,” she said. “There are cattle in the field and it’s a possibility that’s the source of the contamination.”
Even if this is the case, however, experts warn it will still be a few weeks before things return to normal.
Prof Paul Hunter, a leading expert in cryptosporidium based at the University of East Anglia, says: “It makes sense that it came from a faulty valve, but even when the valve is fixed though, the whole system has to be flushed through. Sometimes, when pipes run off the main network and go to separate houses, it is difficult to flush these. So it is all a guessing game as to when it will be safe again.”
As this rumbles on, however, some locals are urging visitors to see beyond the water crisis and support the town.
“We’ve had a few cancellations, but it’s been OK,” says Geoff Paris, of the Berry Head Hotel.
“We can’t serve coke or lemonade as they are water-based, and we need to clean the beer pipes weekly with water, so sooner or later we might not be able to serve pints too.
“We can still serve real ale from casks, or people can drink gin though.”
Paris adds: “The sun is shining, and we have a lovely town with great independent shops and the best sea views in the country. We would just urge people not to shun Brixham, but instead please come.”
