Water Contamination Penalty
South West Water Fined £1.85 Million for Brixham Cryptosporidium Outbreak Following Systemic Failure
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South West Water was fined about £1.85 million after pleading guilty to supplying drinking water unfit for human consumption during a cryptosporidium contamination incident in and around Brixham, Devon, in May 2024. The parasite outbreak left hundreds of people ill and disrupted daily life, with residents in parts of the area told to boil their water for weeks before the advice was lifted in July 2024. At Exeter Magistrates’ Court, District Judge Stuart Smith said the event was a major public health incident and cited inadequate monitoring of air valves, describing the company’s governance as a systemic failure that caused “deep and lasting harm.” Evidence presented to the court linked the contamination to a damaged air valve on farmland used for cattle, after mud and pooling were found and tests confirmed cryptosporidium in soil nearby. The Drinking Water Inspectorate said the crisis undermined trust in the water supply, while South West Water argued the outbreak could not have been prevented because defects were on private land and that inspection policies were not effectively implemented. The judge also reduced the penalty to reflect the company’s early guilty plea.
Key Points
1
The court heard detailed figures on the human impact: ITV reported 537 people left unwell and 10 hospitalised after the May 2024 cryptosporidium outbreak, while the BBC reported more than 140 confirmed cases of sickness/diarrhoea and four hospitalisations during the 54-day incident.
2
Before the parasite was identified and the public messaging changed, the outbreak was already making people ill. ITV reported that people had been falling ill for several days before cryptosporidium was discovered and that the public were told to “continue using the water supply as normal.”
3
Beyond health effects, the outbreak had knock-on disruption to local services and the economy. DevonLive reported that schools and local services were hit and that the economic impact on the tourism industry was “considerable,” adding that bottled-water drinking stations were set up and that public confidence was still badly damaged (with many refusing to drink from taps even two years later).
4
District Judge Stuart Smith also described what he said was a concrete absence in the company’s system: ExmouthJournal reported his “unvarnished reality” comment that there was “no visual inspection scheme for air valves” in place, demonstrating the “systemic failure of governance.”
5
In setting the penalty, the sentencing judge considered the level of culpability as high but toward the lower end. Southhams Today reported that the judge said the culpability fell within the high category “albeit at the lower end” due to the absence of an established industry standard and South West Water’s reactionary actions following the incident.
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