South West Water summonsed to court over parasite

Case due in front of Exeter magistrates

South West Water is being taken to court over a parasite that infected the water supply of 16 thousand households and businesses in South Devon last year.

Around a hundred and 40 people contracted a diarrhoea-type infection and four were hospitalised, when crytosporidium got into the water supply.

Now the Drinking Water Inspectorate says a summons has been issued over potential offences under the Water Industry Act for providing water unfit for human consumption.

Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, told the Guardian: “I am pleased to hear that the Drinking Water Inspectorate has decided to take South West Water to court over the cryptosporidium outbreak in Brixham last year. It’s important we find out exactly what South West Water knew, and when, and why they told people the water was safe to drink when it wasn’t.

“Many of my constituents still don’t trust the drinking water and are paying for bottled water more than a year on from the outbreak. This incident affected the whole community, damaged businesses, hurt the local economy and, most importantly, made many people severely ill. It’s taken a long time to get to this point, but finally, we are seeing South West Water brought to account.”

A spokesperson for South West Water said: “We will reflect on this summons. South West Water has cooperated fully with the Drinking Water Inspectorate from the outset of this incident to help in its investigations.

“We take this incident extremely seriously, and we will continue to engage fully in response to these legal proceedings. In the meantime, our focus remains on delivering clean safe drinking water to our 2 million customers across Cornwall, Devon and the Isles of Scilly.”