Dozens of homes in a village were left without water after E.coli bacteria were found in a nearby reservoir.
The contamination of Stokenchurch reservoir in Oxfordshire caused disruption of supply to 68 properties in the village of Northend. The homes had to be supplied with bottled water by Thames Water, and residents had tankers parked outside their houses to ensure continued supply.
The firm said that E.coli - which can cause severe diarrhoea and vomiting - was found in two samples in one half of the Stokenchurch reservoir on Friday and Sunday last week as part of a routine water quality sampling process. It shut the affected half of the reservoir to the water mains and used another water plant in Chinnor to maintain local supplies.
The company also notified the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) and the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). The reservoir has now been disinfected and tested negative for E.coli and supplies are restored.
Radiologist Gina Brown, 57, who moved her mother, 83, who has arthritis, and father, 97, into an annexe by her house in Northend so they could be closer to her, said the issues with water in the area made her question whether that was the right decision. Dr Brown said: “I brought them here to live with me, to build the annexe to keep them safe And I feel like I’ve ... almost in some ways made it worse for them.”
Dr Brown added that she had to repeatedly boil kettles and carry the boiling water upstairs to wash herself. She said: “If you imagine my elderly parents trying to do that, I wouldn’t recommend that they should be carrying kettles, hot water, up and down.
“Nor can they even lift the 2kg bottles of water that they were supplied with. They couldn’t flush the toilet. My dad is housebound. So what are they to do?”
A Thames Water spokesman apologised for the disruption in Northend, They added: "We take anything associated with public health very seriously indeed. We believe the failed samples may be linked to a recently installed sample pump at the reservoir and not the actual water supplied to customers.
“We took the additional precaution of taking samples downstream of the reservoir and all samples came back clear. As the protection of water quality is always our first priority we conducted an internal inspection of the reservoir, which identified no significant defects, and also carried out additional precautionary work to ensure the integrity of the reservoir.
“We have disinfected the reservoir prior to return. We would like to reassure our customers that there has been no risk to public health.”
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