South West Water fined £1.8m over Devon parasite outbreak

Water firm fined £1.8m over parasite outbreakJust nowShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleBBCSouth West Water has been fined £1.853m after the supply in and around Brixham, Devon, was contaminated with the parasite cryptosporidium.Four people were hospitalised and there were more than 140 confirmed cases of sickness and diarrhoea during the 54-day incident in May 2024.The company pleaded guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption at an earlier hearing, offering a "full and unreserved apology".The utility firm was sentenced at Exeter Magistrates' Court following a prosecution brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate.Judge Stuart Smith told the court it had been "a major public health incident" in which "disruption to daily life was extensive".He said the harm had been "wide-ranging and profound" and the system of monitoring air valves had been "inadequate".He said the "unvarnished reality" was there had been no visual inspection scheme of air valves in place which showed a "systemic failure of governance" of SWW.This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly. Please refresh the page for the fullest version.You can receive Breaking News on a smartphone or tablet via the BBC News App. You can also follow @BBCBreaking on X to get the latest alerts.DevonBrixham