A utility company has been fined £1.85 million for supplying water unfit for human consumption after a parasite outbreak sickened hundreds of people and forced thousands of households to boil their water. South West Water (SWW) pleaded guilty to the criminal offence related to a cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Brixham, Devon, during the spring and summer of 2024.
Judge Condemns Serious Failure
Judge Smith stated: “This was a serious failure by South West Water. The harm caused was wide-ranging, multilayered and profound.” The judge noted that water companies are “regional monopolies” with “captive customers” and that the outbreak led to enduring mistrust of local tap water. He quoted a resident saying: “In this country we are lucky to have good drinking water but we have lost trust in our water supply.”
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs confirmed this is a record fine for a drinking water offence.
Impact on Community and Health
Joe Millington, representing the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), said schools and other services were affected and the local economy suffered. He stated that the incident “significantly undermined” public confidence in the water supply. The outbreak was likely caused by a compromised air valve on farmland where cattle and sheep were kept. The valve was covered in mud, with a broken seal and water pooling across the field. Millington added that SWW’s air valves “were not being inspected in accordance with the policy [SWW] drafted in 2020.” The farm had never been inspected, despite being a high-risk site.
People experienced diarrhoea, stomach cramps, dizziness, and sickness. Of 537 who fell ill, 159 required healthcare, and 10 were hospitalised. The court heard of physical and emotional effects, with vulnerable community members and children profoundly impacted.
Personal Accounts of Suffering
Millington read statements from affected individuals. One hospitalised person said: “My illness made me feel as if I was beaten up and it has been a long process getting over it.” Another described the water as tasting like pond water and losing nearly a stone. A mother said her son needed a drip in hospital: “Hospital was nothing short of horrendous. He was extremely scared and stressed.” The child later refused to bathe in anything but bottled water. A woman had to watch her four-year-old shower to ensure he did not drink water during the boil notice. Another parent reported her child had night terrors about a “bug in the water.”
School pupils missed classes, exams, trips, and sports. One student felt too ill to revise for exams. Mark Eager, former principal of Brixham College, said attendance and GCSE results suffered, especially for disadvantaged children.
Operational Failures
At one point, SWW wrongly lifted a boil-water instruction for 28 houses due to “issues with its digital mapping system.” Millington noted that risks around air valves were known for over a decade, and the DWI recommended formal inspection policies four years before the outbreak. Yet, “not a single air valve was inspected.”
Dominic Kay KC, for SWW, apologised unreservedly and expressed genuine remorse. He stated that SWW created a policy on air valve inspection after the DWI recommendation but admitted it was not implemented. The company believes there was a second ingress of cryptosporidiosis from the farm via illegal cross connections between safe drinking water and unfit water. The valve cover had been deliberately removed, allowing silt, soil, and water to collect. Kay said the company warned people to boil water as soon as the problem was clear.
The court heard SWW has had 22 convictions since June 2014, including a similar offence in north Devon in 2018.
Political and Corporate Response
Caroline Voaden, Liberal Democrat MP for South Devon, said: “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.”
David Harris, managing director of water services at South West Water, said: “We have cooperated fully with the Drinking Water Inspectorate throughout its investigations and through the end of the legal process. We apologise again to our customers who were impacted and have always taken full responsibility for the water that was supplied.”
The company pleaded guilty to an offence under the Water Industry Act 1991 and faced an unlimited fine.
