Cryptosporidium in the Capital, Diarrhoea in Devon, a Toilet in the Thames, a Lavvy in the Lake and Sick sheep in the Swale? Eh…drug deaths…..ferries…

Cryptosporidium causes diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain (Image: Getty)

By Professor John Robertson

Today, in the Guardian, we see:

Thames Water has sent samples of water for lab testing after dozens of people reported becoming unwell with stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea in south-east London. Earlier this month, unsafe drinking water led to more than 100 cases of a waterborne disease in Devon, with people asked to boil their water because of contamination fears.

After cryptosporidium, a disease that can cause symptoms such as diarrhoea and vomiting, was detected in the water supply in the Brixham area of Devon 10 days ago, 17,000 households and businesses were told by South West Water not to use their tap water for drinking without boiling and cooling it first.

Now residents in Beckenham have reported being struck by a stomach bug which is causing days of vomiting and diarrhoea. They include a four-year-old boy suffering days of vomiting, and an adult woman who was so unwell she went to hospital with stomach pain, vomiting and dehydration.

Only a few weeks earlier, the BBC reported of millions of litres of untreated sewage illegally pumped into the beautiful Lake Windermere. BBC Cumbria reported that the firm responsible, United Utilities did not monitor the volume of untreated sewage they pumped into the lake! The following day they paid out £340 million to investors and we read that their CE gets a base (sic) salary of £690 000 and a bonus of up to £900 000. [i]

Two weeks ago, a Swale Dale farmer, was furious after contaminated floodwater killed 30 of his sheep.[ii] Yorkshire Water’s boss didn’t take her £800 000 bonus last year due to ‘public anger over sewage in rivers’. [iii]

In March, the Oxford boat race team claimed their defeat was, in part, due to sickness caused by ‘poo in the water’. E-coli bacteria had been found in the water before the race, yet the Cambridge cox was ceremonially chucked in the river Thames after victory. Thames Water is in crisis, seeking a massive Government bailout, deeply ironic in the context of a boat race. Thames Water typically pays its CE’s £750 000 per year plus bonuses and ‘golden hellos’, in the millions. [iv]

Surely the incoming Labour government will save the good folk of England from diarrhoea and poo in the water?

In 2023, Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that nationalising water companies was ‘no longer on the agenda.’[v] Sir Keir Starmer is saying nothing, again.

Scotland too can have problems with water. Sometimes flood drains overflow when rainfall is too heavy for them to cope, and untreated sewage does end up in rivers and the sea. Not all overflows are monitored. However, try searching for evidence of poisoning from Scotland’s water supplies and you will find only ‘potentially toxic forever chemicals’, traces of human medicines such as ibuprofen, an ‘oily taste’ in the water of Uist and Benbecula, last year, and one case, still unresolved from 2009 of cattle poisoning in Stornoway. [vi]

How is this possible?

Scottish Water has always been under state-control. It pays moderate salaries and bonuses and no shareholder dividends. According to SEPA in 2024, 98% of Scotland’s bathing waters are safe to swim in [vii] and 99% of drinking water samples pass all tests. [viii]

[i] https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/markets/article-13427025/Another-stink-United-Utilities-Water-giant-pays-340m-dividend-Windermere-sewage-scandal.html

[ii] https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/24299224.farmer-lost-30-sheep-suspected-river-swale-poisoning/

[iii] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/11/yorkshire-water-bosss-decision-to-forgo-bonus-labelled-hollow-by-union#:~:text=So%2C%20on%20behalf%20of%20Yorkshire,of%20her%20%C2%A3574%2C000%20salary.

[iv] https://www.ft.com/content/279eede4-01f3-4189-aca9-2904e07e9eaa

[v] https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/labour-reverses-pledge-nationalise-energy-water-mail-general-election-2194125

[vi] https://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/24109632.cattle-poisoning-case-returns-scottish-high-court/

[vii] https://media.sepa.org.uk/media-releases/2023/98-of-scottish-bathing-waters-continue-to-meet-strict-environmental-standards/

[viii] https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/-/media/ScottishWater/Document-Hub/Factsheets-and-Leaflets/Factsheets/021122SWWaterQuality2022.pdf

11 thoughts on “Cryptosporidium in the Capital, Diarrhoea in Devon, a Toilet in the Thames, a Lavvy in the Lake and Sick sheep in the Swale? Eh…drug deaths…..ferries…”

  1. When they talked about “those broad shoulders of the UK” they didn’t mention that ‘shoulders’ included rectums too.

    Time to leave this crappy union before we have to add ‘Squirts in Scotland’ to that list…

    Liked by 1 person

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  3. It’s a SHITE state of affairs to be in, Tommy, and ALL the fresh air in the world won’t make any fucking difference!

    It’ll be a priority for the new enforced/volunteer army 1 weekend a month, fishing shuman shite out of the rivers and off the beaches of Engerland’s ‘green and pleasant land’.

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  4. Scottish Water has been undertaking – with little, if any, reporting in the Scottish media – continuous improvements to drainage. In the past decade, significant works were undertaken along the Clyde in the Glasgow area, mainly to prevent localised flooding. Tributaries like Tollcross Burn have been improved and, consequently, flooding in Shettleston rarely occurs. A huge tunnel was driven across the southside, underneath Queen’s Park, to Shieldhall treatment plant to alleviate a decades long problem with flooding by the White Cart in the Shawlands area. Near where I ive there have been a number of small schemes along the Kelvin from Kelvingrove Park to Wyndford to replace or remove old Victorian storm drains.

    Still, in Dumfries, the Nith floods the Whitesands area and so our baleful media have a n annual gripe.

    Alasdair Macdonald.

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  5. …but , as Lord FFSFoulkes would say , Scottish Water is ”deliberately” producing good quality water to embarrass the English Water Companies , who continually extract the pee ( from the customers NOT the water ! ).

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  6. Not so much that SW are state controlled, rather that they are allowed to operate as intended unlike the profit making concern a la England, with asset strippers, shareholders and politicians whispering in their ears.

    In Scotland the regulator SEPA has long been granted unhindered control, and has collaborated with SW and it’s forebears to prioritise and address sewage pollution, as they have with the farming sector (the vast majority of whom take ‘husbandry’ seriously) which is why Scotland’s water environment has advanced whilst that in England has reversed as once released from EU (the Brexit bonus) constraints – It is why so much political/media effort has been put in to portraying Scotland as equally bad if not worse than England…

    The Devon incident is a prize case in point of gaslighting the public – An air valve releases air from a pressurised water main – It can only ‘flow’ the other way when it’s jammed and the water main reverses pressure to a vacuum.

    The sewage/drinking water connection re Beckenham is interesting but also revealing – They don’t yet know the cause hence sending water samples for analysis ? – Water sample testing for bugs is a regular feature of monitoring in Scotland as it takes time to develop and detect the presence of such organisms – I find it hard to believe Thames don’t know what has caused this in one part of their vast network.

    Given two incidents (that we know of ) being reported in entirely different areas of south England recently, might I raise the possibility this is GE related from those of the ‘ let the bodies pile high’ mindset ?

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  7. some reports did say that there had been another raft of incidents of illness due to ‘bugs’ in water in at least 10 areas of England mostly it seemed in the North of England and Midlands. They seemed fairly localised and details were sketchy perhaps because the Crypto incident in Devon took precedence

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