According to this report of a meeting between South West Water (SWW) and Teignbridge Council’s overview and scrutiny committee, SWW are trying to deflect the blame for the cryptosporidium outbreak.

It is being described by them as a “freak accident”, the responsibility of a “third party”.

Accounts suggest that the crypto bug got into the water through “a faulty valve in the network”.

We don’t know what sort of valve this is, but valves are mechanical devices that can fail.  So a fundamental consideration should be that they are installed in such a way, and situation, that they “fail safe”. They also need to be monitored and maintained. Surely these are SWW responsibilities?

SWW don’t look to have been any more transparent at this scrutiny meeting than with their meeting with EDDC in February.

Consumers need a much fuller explanation of what went wrong if confidence is to be restored. – Owl

Bug infection was ‘freak accident’ claims South West Water manager

Guy Henderson, local democracy reporter www.radioexe.co.uk 

Fault lays elsewhere, councillors told

An incident which led to thousands of South Devon households being told to boil their drinking water for weeks on end has been described as ‘an absolute freak accident’.

A faulty valve in the network between Brixham and Kingswear allowed cryptosporidium into the water system, exposing people to the risk of catching a bug which causes vomiting and diarrhoea.

Ian Lake, head of developer services for South West Water (SWW), told Teignbridge Council’s overview and scrutiny committee: “South West Water was not the reason for this. It was a third party.

“An investigation is being undertaken, but it was in my humble opinion an absolute freak accident that occurred.”

The alarm was raised in May, and 17,000 households across Brixham, Kingswear and parts of Paignton were advised to boil their water. SWW set up depots to distribute free bottled water to people affected by the incident, and delivered supplies to vulnerable households.

It was only a week ago – almost two months after the first reports – that the final ‘boil water’ notice was lifted for the last affected homes closest to the water works.

Mr Lake was among SWW officials attending the meeting to answer questions about water issues in Teignbridge.

Head of community engagement Alan Burrows said there had been “emotive conversations” around sewage spills and water quality, but SWW was on track to hit stringent targets to cut the number of incidents.

He pointed out that the water company was to blame for only 12 per cent of pollution spills, with the rest coming from sources including farms and factories.

His figures showed that fewer than half the storm overflows into the River Teign catchment area currently meet government standards, but millions of pounds is being invested to fix the others.

Cllr John Radford (SD Alliance, Kerswell with Coombe) said: “I don’t see any confidence going forward. A lot of promises have been made, but they have never been kept.”