Brixham parasite chaos as locals told to boil water
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00:00Even up until yesterday, they were still telling people it was safe to drink the water.
00:05And then today it comes out that this parasite is in our water and not to drink it.
00:12I noticed a pattern within Brixham of people getting really poorly,
00:15and then I decided to contact South West Water because I felt my water tasted funny.
00:20And while I was on the phone to them, they told me that there'd been 15 confirmed cases
00:24of Cryptosporidium, which I thought was a very low number considering the amount
00:29of people that I knew were ill. So I decided to put a post on social media,
00:35and it just blew up overnight. When I woke up the next morning, there were
00:39over a thousand comments on there of people all over Brixham that were suffering from stomach
00:44problems. I thought it's probably the water because it's in such a small contained
00:49area and so many people were ill. I first started having symptoms 10 days ago.
00:56Um, my husband at the weekend was noticing rumblings in his tummy, um, and has had been
01:02really poorly since yesterday in bed. My eldest started showing symptoms on the 5th
01:07of May, um, and he had like tummy cramps, feeling a bit sick. He ended up in A&E in
01:14Torbay Hospital overnight on the paediatrics ward. They said he had like a bug just to keep
01:21obviously hydrated, um, and then I started on the Monday, which was the 6th of May, um,
01:30and then Oscar started on the Tuesday, and we have had symptoms still now.
01:37It's not just like the diarrhoea, it's the cramps. So the cramps like quite high up,
01:43very intense, and you just, it's like the crippling and nothing helps with it. You just,
01:48it's just the constant and it's horrible. Uh, I've had symptoms now for eight days,
01:54stomach cramps, discomfort, and, uh, lots of, um, trips to the toilet.
02:00Southwest Water have offered us a ÂŁ15 compensation, which I think is very low
02:07considering the amount of water that we're going to have to buy for our family just alone.
02:12I think if they're found responsible, they should definitely speak to all of us personally as well,
02:17like apologize and offer us some sort of compensation. I think ÂŁ15 towards our next bill
02:23is nothing. They've done nothing about it until the social media post, even up until yesterday,
02:29they were still telling people it was safe to drink the water. Um, and then today it comes out
02:34that this parasite is in our water and not to drink it. So overnight people are still drinking
02:41the water and now are potentially going to become ill as well. I've chronic kidney disease. I've
02:46been advised by my consultant to stop taking, uh, or medication because my body needs to hold
02:51onto the salts and obviously losing salts through dehydration is a real risk. I think as soon as
02:57they knew that there was cases, they should have said to us that they're suspected and they should
03:02have as a precautionary told no one to drink the water, not yesterday, telling everyone it's still
03:08fine. Our whole family is affected. Our pets are ill. The whole street's affected. Um, it's about
03:14time something was done about it. I think once all the investigations are done, um, if South
03:19water are found to be responsible, they should be made to pay fines. And I think people will need
03:26compensation from it. So now, cause we're having to use water to wash, do our teeth, cook our food.
03:33It's not even just for drinking now. It's so it's a lot of water that we're going to have to be
03:37buying. So I think Southwest water should be held responsible. Um, they, they have a lot to answer
03:42for.