More than 140,000 West Midlands householders were hit by water pollution incidents last year including microbiological contamination and fluoride overdosing, it has been revealed.
Discolouration of water was also among the problems disclosed in a report out this month by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).
Homes in Essington, in Staffordshire, Willenhall, in the Black Country Bordesley, in Birmingham, Smethwick, Bridgnorth, in Shropshire, and Wolverhampton were all affected in the incidents, which have been put down to incompetence or pipe work issues like a burst main or valve pressure.
Severn Trent and South Staffordshire water authorities, who supply the areas, said they took action after each incident, including telling people to boil water, retraining workers, carrying out repairs and flushing the system.
Nearly 30,000 people in Wolverhampton and Bridgnorth were affected in June and July last year when too much fluoride was added to water at Dimmingsdale Treatment Works.
Fluoride is automatically added by Severn Trent Water under agreement with the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority as a protection against tooth decay, but a test at the works, near Wolverhampton, found it to be twice the target level. The DWI report said problems with new equipment at the site, inadequate supervision and poor training were to blame.
Severn Trent Water apologised, but said the water didn’t pose any risk. “While the water was still safe to drink, these samples and the way in which they arose fell short of the high standards we expect,” a spokesman said.
In Smethwick in July, around 280 people were supplied by the South Staffordshire authority with water that had been microbiologically contaminated following a burst main in Bearwood. However, no health complaints were registered.
A South Staffordshire Water spokesman said: “After every burst main is repaired, samples are taken to ensure that no contamination has occurred during dewatering of the main for repair.
“On this occasion, a sample did fail the micro biological tests and additional chlorine was added to the water. Boil notices were also sent to the residents local to the burst main as precaution.”
