unsafe to drink water

redsquarelady

Hi,

I'm posting on behalf of my best friend...

On friday afternoon she received a text message from a friend by mistake, it was ment for someone else, saying that they shouldn't drink the water. Its lucky she did!! Turns out there is a problem with the water in the town and water should be boiled before drinking.

My friend lives on the outskirts of the town and at no point have severn trent tried to contact her regarding this.

On saturday she received some bottled water dropped off by severn trent.

In the house hold there is my friend, her husband and 2 children ( 2 years old and 7 weeks old)

Her husband and youngest child have had tummy upsets.

My friend rang Severn trent and complained. They appoligised and said they should have informed the household.

Is this enough? To me it seems horrific to not be told asap that the drinking water isn't safe to drink. Especially with 2 such young children. Do Severn Trent have an obligation to inform customers that the water isn't safe to drink? They wrote to the households concerned that the water should be safe to drink in the next few days, yet they couldn't write or do a leaflet drop to say not to drink it!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

OK as bad as it sounds, it sounds more like they have an issue with a DMA area (district metered area), these area's are planned on maps to who they supply, it maybe the case that because your friend is on the outer edge of the town it maybe that she is not inside that DMA area as first thought, if her supply is from that DMA i.e a boundry shut off valve is open somehwere and its not supposed to be the water CO wouldnt have had a first incling that there was a problem leading into another DMA area untill she alerted them of the families symtoms, plans would have actioned to find out after his/her contact and issue boil notice's and bottled water if needed to those in that area to wich the boundry valve is open, unless your disabled/kidney dialysis or have children dependant on bottle feeding the water company have no obligation to provide bottled water, as boiling the tap water is sufficient and safe untill supply is cut off then water will be rationed per household via bottled water or local bowser point.

what im saying is, although there is a problem with the water, its not life threatening if it was it would be cut off end of. because she/he is on the outer edge of town they maybe in a neighbouring DMA, to wich is supposed to be unaffected, and untill contact to the water authority was made they had no idea and thus no pre warning to households, im sure now that everything is being done to find out what boundry valve is open so the spread of what ever is in the water (cryptosparidium is one thought of mine) doesnt spread further and that valve is shut again.

boundry valves an be opened to provide extra pressure of water to that area that has less pressure, this maybe due to new homes being built that requires that area to have extra pressure, theres a large leak that is strangling pressure in the area and the boudry valve was opened to cure that problem in the short term but was forgotten about.

theres many factors. but the likelyhood is that your friend was out of that DMA area is it was on the plans, and shouldnt have been affected. boil the water and everything will be fine.

redsquarelady

she is definately in the boundry.. that was never in question.The area effected was quite large, it was just she lives on the edge of the town, not town centre iyswim. She has since found out that everyone was sent a letter to inform them not to drink the water. After she complained to Severn trent they have sent her that letter (5 days later) They also sent someone round to take samples of her water. Also they have now sent her so much bottled water she wont need tap water for a long time!

I understand that these things happen to disrupt water supplies. My issue is that she didn't receive the initial letter. You said its not life threatening, but a 7 week old baby with diarrhea can dehidrate very quickly and it can become very serious.
Maybe im overreacting i just thought they had a duty of care to inform people.

peachyprice

redsquarelady wrote: »

I understand that these things happen to disrupt water supplies. My issue is that she didn't receive the initial letter. You said its not life threatening, but a 7 week old baby with diarrhea can dehidrate very quickly and it can become very serious.
Maybe im overreacting i just thought they had a duty of care to inform people.

Why was she using unboiled water for a 7 week old baby in the first place?

redsquarelady

peachyprice wrote: »

Why was she using unboiled water for a 7 week old baby in the first place?

Thanks for the reply... she wasnt using unboiled water. But you still have to wash babies occasionally, this isnt usually done in boiled water:p

atrixblue.-MFR-.

redsquarelady wrote: »

Thanks for the reply... she wasnt using unboiled water. But you still have to wash babies occasionally, this isnt usually done in boiled water:p

no the water to wash is usually in the boiler and preheated to temos that will kill off crypto (if thats is what it is). so i cant see how the tap water is linked to the baby upset tummy, perhaps coincedance has it there was a bug going round.

as for sending letter, i'm woundering whether she has regisetered to have no junk mail sent to her property, and as many are marked as the occupier and not by name, perhaps it was filtered or just error on RM side.

it nice to hear the authority are acting in accordance to ofwats regs in the regard to quick actioning of testing the water, supplying as much bottled water as possible for the household.

us in wales have added bonus that the bottled water they supply is actually brecon careg that you pay for in the shops but re labelled as welshwater own.

redsquarelady

She as far as she is aware isnt registerd for no junk mail. She has since had communiction from them. They are still unable to drink the water, but at least they know they can't now.:)