Seaside Town Struggling with a Water Pollution Crisis

“Beautiful, isn’t it”, calls over a tourist wearing a bright blue “I love Devon” T-shirt. And as I stand in Brixham harbour looking up at the rows of pretty ice cream-colored homes in the warm lunchtime sunshine, it’s hard to disagree.

Since the 19th century, this quintessential harbour town has justifiably become a hotspot for holidaymakers on a stretch of coast in Torbay known affectionately as the English Riviera.

but amidst the chatter inside the fish and chip shops, fudge-makers and pubs, it’s not the upcoming bank holiday, or even the appointment of a new manager at Torquay United that’s the topic of conversation.

Instead, everyone’s talking about the quality of tap water, or the lack of it.

“We should put up a sign to say we are using sea water instead of South West Water, because it is cleaner,” jokes the owner of the fabulously-decorated Rio’s Fish & Chips.

Paramedics Cryptosporidium is the source of this illness.

Keith Johnson, who took over after moving from the West Midlands, says the outbreak of an illness caused by the parasite cryptosporidium has rocked the town.

A faulty valve is suspected to have allowed the parasite to make its way into the water network, with much of the town’s population urged to stop using tap water until further notice.

Since the UK Health Security Agency announced there had been 46 confirmed cases, with more than 100 people reporting similar symptoms on Friday afternoon, Mr Johnson says he’s had no customers in the first hour-and-a-half of lunchtime opening.

“We’ve been blocklist ,” he says. “No-one is around, it’s so obvious. We usually get coach drops coming in during the week, but we’ve had nothing and the hotels have reported cancellations.

“It’s [cryptosporidium outbreak] scared people away.”

Suspected of contracting the parasite

Among those suspected of contracting the parasite is caretaker Bryon Freer, who lives just 800 metres from the Hillhead reservoir.

“It was worse than COVID—it was five days of severe diarrhoea and vomiting,” says the 59-year-old, who believes he caught the bug almost three weeks ago.

“I thought it was norovirus before this week, then I realised the symptoms were identical to cryptosporidium. This has been going on much longer than anyone is making out.”

Mr Freer, who lost money through being out of work while ill, said the £115 in compensation offered by South West Water was well below what people deserved.

“It is typical of a corporate company to throw a small amount of money at the situation to try to keep people quiet,” he says.

Down on the harbour’s edge, in the shadow of a statue commemorating the landing of William of Orange and his invasion army 355 years ago, former care home worker Barry Flack runs a shack selling gifts.

sits empty

“A couple of weeks ago we had a pirate festival with 70,000 people here, you couldn’t move – but look at today, it’s quiet and those here aren’t spending money,” he says.

Behind him, a replica of the Golden Hind ship that Francis Drake circumnavigated around the world, sits empty.

The town’s Wetherspoon pub, The Vigilance, is busy. But staff aren’t serving coffee or water-based food such as noodles and porridge, and drinkers are making do without ice.

Just looking down the town’s main shopping road, Fore Street, few people are walking around with open boxes of fish and chips or cones of ice cream. Instead, many are clutching plastic-wrapped cases of water bottles.

Some have come from Torbay Fruit Supplies, where worker Rayan Ali has been handing out around £400 worth of water bottles for free. “We deliver too if people can’t carry it,” he says.

He’s down to his last one. Just as well South West Water has set up three water stations at car parks across the town, handing out 129,000 two litre bottles so far.

A few miles west of the cove of the harbor is the long sandy beach of Broadsands. It sits at the foot of a rolling hill. Dartmouth’s heritage line passes through the hill featuring steam trains.

But the car park isn’t full of visitors, it’s been turned into a water station with well-organised teams of workers loading up the boots of cars and vans.

Martin Thackway, a retired plasterer from nearby Whiterock on the edge of Paignton, says, “The whole thing is disgusting.” He is driving to get water for his bed-ridden wife.

The 68-year-old’s wife, Catherine, came down with diarrhoea on Wednesday night. “She’s been really poor, we think she’s had it from the water,” says Mr Thackray.

Dog is sick of tap water

Mr Thackray’s daughter Deborah Winterbourne, 49, says her dog is sick of the tap water. “We first heard about it on Facebook, then we got told to stop drinking the water, but it was too late,” she says.

“Then Tesco, Poundland and Iceland sold out of water. We are trying everything but it’s difficult with three children.”

South West Water’s chief executive Susan Davies issued a statement on Thursday evening. “I am truly sorry,” and added, “We have fallen significantly short of what our customers expected.”

A promise of £115 compensation was made to customers, too.

They offered £15 first,

The 70-year-old adds: “The network is massive and they have to test a lot of water. Just one of those things that they’ve handled fairly well.”

But it’s hard to find others not criticising South West Water.

Steve Mathis and Jeanette Simpson sipped hot drinks outside K’ohana Cafe on the beachfront. They believed the company should have communicated faster and better with its customers.

Ms. Simpson, at the age of 66, shared her perspective: “Most people became aware of the situation through social media.” She also expressed her concern: “I believe the company could have reached out to more customers directly. Many of us were eagerly waiting for official confirmation after reading things online.”

Mr Mathis, 71, adds that he’s concerned the disease may have spread further afield than Brixham.

He says his friend, living eight miles away in Torquay, had received tests back confirming he had caught the disease.

The virus is caught in drinking water contaminated by the parasite

The virus is caught in drinking water contaminated by the parasite or swallowing dirty water in swimming pools or streams. Coming into contact with infected people can also spread the parasite.

Up the road from the beach, pharmacy manager Andrew Mawhinney shares this: Since 8 May, around 60 people have come to Broadway Pharmacy seeking help with symptoms of the virus.

On Thursday, he was issued with a letter from the UKHSA that suggested there were now unconfirmed cases across Devon.

The epidemiology suggests that the outbreak is localized to the Brixham area, according to South West Water’s website. However, there are anecdotal reports of people experiencing similar symptoms elsewhere in Devon.

Mr Mawhinney urges people with symptoms – diarrhoea, sickness and fever – to stay hydrated and exercise hygiene.

I feel annoyed as a healthcare professional.While they investigated the network, they looked for traces of cryptosporidium. It could have resulted in fewer people becoming ill.”

Back in Brixham town centre, punters are settling in. Inside the Brixham Conservative Social Club, they are having pints of Carlsberg and Thatcher for a Friday evening. Inside the Brixham Conservative Social Club, back in Brixham town centre, punters are settling in for a Friday evening. There are pints of Carlsberg and Thatcher.

“What’s wrong with her,” says one, talking about a friend. There must be something in the water,

On Thursday, Laura Flowerdew, the firm’s chief customer and digital officer, expressed her sincere apologies. This affects our customers in the Brixham and Alston areas.

Protecting the health of our customers is our number one priority. We will provide them with a clean, fresh drinking water supply as soon as possible. We will continue to work around the clock to ensure this happens.

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