Boil water notice lifted in Brixham

South West Water says its "especially sorry"

Two months after a parasitic outbreak in the water supply in Brixham, the final properties under a boil water notice have been told they can finally drink from their taps again.

Cryptosporidium, which causes vomiting and diarrhoea was discovered in the supply in May. To start with, South West Water denied it had anything to do with the water network and said tap water was safe to drink. The company later U-turned on that statement.

At one stage, 16,000 properties were affected, but the notice for the final 674 in Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary's has now been lifted.

Bottled water stations were setup in response to the incident, but these will now close. Water deliveries will also stop.

In a statement, chief customer officer Laura Flowerdew said: "A triple layer of protection is now in place including microfilters and UV at our tank and in-line microfiltration in your supply zone providing additional barriers. So you can be confident that the water is safe to drink.

"We want to let you know that now you can use your water as normal, we will be closing the bottled water stations from 9pm this evening (Monday 8 July).

"Water deliveries will also stop in the final area to be lifted from the Boil Water Notice today, we will though continue to deliver water to customers on our Priority Services Register today and tomorrow.

"We are sorry for the disruption the Boil Water Notice has brought. We are especially sorry for the distress caused to those who fell ill because of cryptosporidium and to the ones who had to care for them."