Residents of a town left without water for weeks due to a deadly parasite have called for legal action after claiming more than 1,000 people have been ill and their lives ‘destroyed’.
Several children and vulnerable patients continue to suffer serious health issues while hundreds are still refusing to drink their tap water four months on from the cryptosporidium outbreak.
Locals in Brixham, Devon, are calling for South West Water to be prosecuted- claiming they were lied to and ‘manipulated’ into believing their supply was safe.
A total of 16,000 properties were told in May to not consume their tap water, although South West Water said publicly there had only been 100 confirmed cases of the disease.
But a resident action group claims the total figure was up to ten times higher, with victims saying they have suffered ‘tortuous psychological games’ to physical hospitalisations, including babies, elderly patients and vulnerable people on drips.
Some remain in hospital suffering from nasty respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses caused by the microscopic parasite, known to have ‘unpleasant’ and ‘dangerous’ effects.
Widespread water boiling restrictions were lifted on July 8 after first being implemented on 15 May by the water board.
However, a boil notice remains in place for customers in the Higher Brixham, Southdown, Upton Manor and St Mary’s supply area, who are advised to continue to boil their drinking water before consuming it.
Several meetings have now been held among the residents, the latest with MP Caroline Voaden, as an investigation has been launched by The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).
Ms Voaden said: ‘This will explore matters such as: whether the outbreak was avoidable, what South West Water did and how they handled it, what lessons can be learnt, whether there were any breaches of regulations, whether the correct information was given out and whether anything was covered up?’
But she added: ‘I wouldn’t find it easy to trust South West Water.
‘The situation in Brixham is not a one-off. Many other places in the UK are at risk of health outbreaks caused by water pollution.’
Last week South West Water arranged an unrecorded public meeting in Brixham with CEO Susan Davy.
But Tanya Matthews, 42, a Brixham resident affected with the illness, compared the session to ‘being in a prison’.
She said: ‘We didn’t really get any answers and were being eyeballed throughout the whole evening (at least six security were there) and many found it intimidating.
‘They kept hiding behind the fact they are being investigated.
‘Some of us were crying listening to what some people had to say, but Susan Davy (SWW CEO)was just stone faced the whole time – it was like she was somewhere else.
‘Then she told us about not accepting her bonus – but she has had a 300k pay increase in line with cost of living.’
Cryptosporidium causes a disease called cryptosporidiosis that, when consumed, gives people and animals symptoms of diarrhea, sickness, vomiting, dizziness and incontenance.
The UK Health Security Agency said during the outbreak there were 118 cases of cryptosporidiosis confirmed but acknowledged many more people reported having symptoms and it is carrying out a study to understand the true extent of the outbreak.’
Residents have also slammed their local GPs and doctors across the town for not taking peoples’ samples – after over 100 people went to doctors to test for the parasite.
Jill Norfolk, 65, a local resident, said: ‘The GPs told us not to bring samples in and said ‘do not come to us until its 48 hours after your last s***.
‘Where are we supposed to go? The practices have been overwhelmed, and that’s how I think it was discovered.’
South West Water insists there have been no new infections of the outbreak since May 31, however, residents are questioning how the company know this because ‘doctors stopped testing for cyrpto in May and ‘people had already stopped drinking the water by this point’.
Residents have now held several meetings to raise awareness and ‘band together’ to demand action from the water company – with around 60 in attendance.
One Brixham resident Sarah Treaser said: ‘All we want to be able to drink the water – it is a basic human need and right.
‘On every street I know, everyone has been affected by this.
‘What do we all have in common? The drinking water – but South West Water have been trying to destroy the evidence.
‘They have lied and lawyered up since the beginning – what are they hiding?
‘We want answers, and we will get the truth out.’
One woman claimed she had been offered £75 by South West Water to accept evidence of contamination causing respiratory problems as ‘misinformation’.
Multiple residents said they started experiencing symptoms ‘weeks’ before this official announcement back in May.
Tanya Matthews claims she asked South West Water to test her water on 13 May – after she noticed it was ‘leaving a horrible taste’ in her mouth.
The mother-of-three said she started showing symptoms around the 6 May – including stomach cramps, diarrhea as well as feeling nauseous with faint and dizzy spells.
After putting a post on a local fishing page asking who else had similar symptoms, Tanya recalls waking up the next day to over 1,200 comments on her post.
She added: ‘Many commented they had been to their GPs and were told they had food poisoning – but kept being told to ‘stay hydrated and drinks loads of water’, and that is what was poisoning them.
‘When I contacted them, they told me there had been 15 confirmed cases of cry. But they assured me it was nothing to do with the water.
‘It has been awful – every time I ate I had to run to the toilet.
‘No one could answer my questions at SWW, so someone from the scientific team contacted me and asked if I had been in the sea or the river – to which I said no.’
Tanya says she was told she would have the results from samples taken from her kitchen water back after 24 hours on 13 May – but has not received them to date.
Sarah Treaser said eight people on her road had been affected – one who was hospitalised and nearly died from the parasite – as well as a two-week-old foal who was left ‘very poorly’ after drinking the tap water.
She was not only personally affected by the illness but was left to care for her father and children who were struck down with serious symptoms, including vomiting, headaches, temperatures, diarrhoea, stomach pains and even incontinence.
She added: ‘There have been so many lies and so much chaos.
‘I just felt poisoned, like my body was fighting for its life and genuinely questioned if I was dying.’
Jill Norfolk says she still has to take her ‘discrete underwear’ with her everywhere she goes, because of how she has been affected by the parasite and is still scared to leave the house.
She said: ‘It has been lies after lies after lies. They have told the public there has been only 100 confirmed cases – but it has been over 1,000.
‘I am too scared to leave the house now and always have to wear incontinence pads – it is degrading and embarrassing.
‘I know an elderly woman living nearby who doesn’t have access to normal TV channels, and when she got ill she presumed she had a kidney problem – it has been truly horrifying and there are so many stories like this.’
Helen Ireland, another Brixham resident who lives with eight other people, explains how every member of the household got ill after drinking the tap water.
She is still ill three months later and says has a ‘ravaged intestine’ and cannot leave the house without fear of her bowels.
She added: ‘Despite South West Water stating, ‘the crypto levels safe for those with ‘healthy’ immune systems and tolerable for a healthy adult immune system’ – my intestine is in bits.
‘It affects me every day still, and has been truly horrific.’
Sharon Thame, 70, another Brixham resident, is amongst hundreds calling for an investigation.
She said: ‘It’s spoilt Brixham for me, South West Water have spoilt it.
‘I want them to be held accountable. We are a close community and there is suspicion now they are saying the water is clear.
‘I want the CEO prosecuted – she has done so much wrong and it is disgusting.’
Susan Davy, CEO of South West Water said: ‘We will continue to do all we can to support the Brixham community following the cryptosporidium incident earlier this year, and we were pleased to meet with some local residents last week to answer questions and address concerns alongside MP Caroline Voaden.
She said the incident was a ‘rare event’ which the water board ‘continue to take extremely seriously’.
A spokesperson for UKHSA said: ‘During the outbreak, there were 118 cases of cryptosporidiosis confirmed after cryptosporidium was detected in the water and a boil water notice was put in place.
‘We know that many more people reported having symptoms and our study will help us understand the true extent of the outbreak.
‘Residents were asked to complete an online questionnaire about any gastrointestinal illness that they may have had. UKHSA’s Field Epidemiology team are currently reviewing the responses and the findings will be considered as part of the DWI investigation.’
Explaining why not everyone who had symptoms was tested, it responded: ‘Individuals with prolonged or severe symptoms which might have indicated cryptosporidiosis were able to access testing through their GPs. Lots of people were tested this way, which was enough to confirm the source of the outbreak and to show that the boil water notice and remediation measures taken were effective.
‘Even now, GPs continue to test where clinically indicated and have a low threshold of suspicion for anyone in the area with GI (gastrointestinal) symptoms.
‘There is also surveillance in place to monitor the number of calls to GPs/111 in the area, which is a way to pick up on if there is an ongoing issue, over and above the usual diarrhoea and vomiting (D+V) symptoms that are seen all year round.
‘The epidemiological study is also a way to identify those who reported symptoms around that time, but may not have been tested at their GP.’