Chlorine scare for thousands of Severn Trent customers

THOUSANDS of people in the East Midlands were warned not to use their tap water following a scare over high levels of chlorine.

Coventry-based utility Severn Trent issued the warning over the weekend after high levels of the chemical were found in a reservoir near Castle Donington.

Around 3,700 people in Derbyshire and Leicestershire were told that as a precaution no tap water should be used for drinking, preparing food or bathing.

The company is looking at ways it can compensate those affected by the problem.

Pipes at the reservoir were flushed out as soon as the problems was discovered and shortly before 9.30am yesterday (Sunday) the warning was rescinded when the company said: “We’re pleased to say that ALL of our customers in the Derbyshire and Leicestershire area can now use their water supply as normal.”

Although as a precaution, people were told to let their cold tap run at full flow for five minutes to flush out any potential residue.

“We’re really sorry for the inconvenience we know this has caused.  We want to reassure you that the health of our customers is our absolute priority, and this was a precautionary measure due to the levels of chlorine in the water supply,” it added.

Nevertheless, contingency measures continued to operate during the day as the company arranged for people to collect bottled water from supermarkets in Swadlincote and Ashby-de-la-Zouch.

“We’ll be keeping a close eye on the network to make sure everything is working as it should,” added the utility.

“Some customers may notice a slight difference in the taste of the water – this is just while we get the network back to normal and again, this will settle down shortly.”

It stressed there was no reason to believe there was any risk to public health.

It said it was continuing to investigate what caused the problem and was identifying how it could compensate the 3,700 customers directly affected.

The utility also dealt with burst pipes in Nottingham and Castle Donington yesterday.

Repair teams were drafted in to work on the problems and to restore supplies to those affected as quickly as possible.