South West Water has been fined almost £2million for supplying water unfit for human consumption following a parasitic outbreak that left four people in hospital.
The company was prosecuted after the water supply in the Brixham area of Devon was contaminated by cryptosporidium, a parasite which causes sickness and diarrhoea.
Exeter Magistrates’ Court heard how hundreds people reported becoming unwell, including children, with some requiring hospital treatment.
During the outbreak, there were 143 confirmed cases, with 126 identified as the strain of cryptosporidiosis specific to the Brixham strain.
The tiny waterborne parasite emerged amid ‘an air valve contamination issue’ at Hillhead reservoir during the tourist season of that year, the court was told.
South West Water, which was prosecuted by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), offered those affected an ‘unreserved apology’.
District Judge Stuart Smith fined the company £1.853million, with a surcharge of £2,000 and costs of £75,000 – totalling £1.930million.
South West Water has admitted to supplying water unfit for human consumption to the area of Brixham (pictured), which left four people in hospital after it said it was safe to drink
Joe Millington, representing the DWI, said the UK Health Security Agency was first made aware of five cases of cryptosporidiosis by Torbay Hospital on May 10, 2024.
Tests confirmed the parasite was present in water supplied to households and businesses in the area on May 15.
Boil notices were initially issued to 16,221 properties, with a population of 38,930 people, but were reduced on May 18 when testing narrowed the location of the contamination.
On July 8, the notices were fully lifted – with residents of the final 674 properties affected told they were safe to drink tap water.
Mr Millington said customers reported more than 500 cases of cryptosporidiosis, with symptoms including diarrhoea, abdominal pains and nausea.
He described how those affected experienced physical discomfort, and compared it ‘unfavourably to food poisoning’.
In victim statements summarised to the court by Mr Millington, people spoke of the impact of the outbreak on their lives.
One person described flu-like symptoms for about ten days before experiencing vomiting and diarrhoea, leading to them being taken to hospital by ambulance.
‘My illness made me feel as if I had been beaten up,’ they said.
‘It was a long process of getting over it.’
Another person described drinking a glass of water from their kitchen tap which ‘tasted like it had come from a pond’ before experiencing diarrhoea during a family holiday in Spain.
The court heard they had not eaten for eight days, had to cancel a long-haul holiday and lost almost a stone in weight.
One mother told how her young son had been in hospital on multiple occasions due to his illness, leaving him distressed and anxious.
Headteachers reported a drop in attendance levels at local schools, in the weeks leading up to GCSE tests, with a ‘clear negative impact on exam outcomes’, Mr Millington added.
One school had five teachers off sick.
Mr Millington said the incident ‘undermined trust and confidence in the water supply’.
Dominic Kay KC, representing South West Water, offered an ‘unreserved apology’ on behalf of the company.
‘The company, through its senior management, wishes to record publicly its genuine remorse for this incident,’ he said.
Mr Kay said the company had pleaded guilty on the basis there were two possible sources of the outbreak, both on the farm.
Contamination is believed to have entered the water through an air valve – which had been damaged by a third party – situated in a field where cattle were moved to on April 19.
A South West Water policy, from 2020, stated that air valves should be inspected but this was not implemented, the court heard. The air valve had not been visually inspected since 2011.
When inspected during investigations into the outbreak, the air valve was found to be missing its cover and surrounding chamber.
Mr Kay told the court that it was unclear when these had been deliberately removed by a third party, with this damage not reported to South West Water.
He added that South West Water had acted ‘entirely reasonably and properly’ from when the UKHSA first notified the company of the outbreak.
South West Water owner Pennon previously said the final bill for the outbreak reached nearly £40million.
The supplier – which also owns Bristol Water, Bournemouth Water and SES Water – said it was facing costs of around £36million for the supply contamination incident and its ‘reshaping and transformation programmes’.
Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, said after the hearing: ‘I hope today brings some closure for the campaigners who have worked tirelessly to ensure the trauma they experienced in May 2024 was not forgotten.
‘Words like incompetent and reckless are so often used to describe our broken water industry that they have almost lost their meaning.
‘But the truth is South West Water failed at their most basic duty, and no amount of money will ever fully regain the customer trust they squandered.’
Since June 2014, SWW has received 22 environmental charges, with a total of 114 before that date.
Among the countless environmental charges was one also for supplying water unfit for human consumption in June 2018.
In a statement, David Harris, managing director of water services for South West Water, said: ‘We have co-operated fully with the Drinking Water Inspectorate throughout its investigations and through the end of the legal process today.
‘We apologise again to our customers who were impacted and have always taken full responsibility for the water that was supplied.
‘Hundreds of our skilled colleagues worked tirelessly to fix the issues faced during the incident. We will continue to work every day to rebuild trust and our relationships with the communities who were impacted by this extremely rare event in 2024.
‘That started during the incident itself where the prosecution acknowledged today in court that South West Water went above and beyond with respect to the provision of bottled water and more generally made no criticism of our incident response.
‘We have also developed smart air valves – an industry leading step up – and changed our processes to ensure earlier precautionary boil water notices can be issued where necessary.’
Keith Haslett, chief executive officer of Pennon Group, added: ‘While I have only been CEO of this business for a few weeks, it is very clear that we must learn lessons from this incident and work hard to continue to rebuild trust with the customers and communities we serve, both in Brixham and beyond.
‘I am already focussed on driving improvement in the way we operate, how we communicate and support our customers during operational incidents, and driving a step change in our performance for our customers and the environment.’
