Residents urged to aid clear-up

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Over the weekend 400 engineers were working to sort out the contamination problem

Work continues to clean contaminated water supplies in Northamptonshire after an outbreak of Cryptosporidium.

Anglian Water isolated the source of the bug, at the Pitsford Treatment works, on Friday and have treated it with ultra-violet light.

While work continues to flush out the system, more than 100,000 households have been told to boil their water.

A firm spokeswoman urged homes to aid the clear-up by not using tap water to water gardens while work continues.

The spokeswoman said they needed all available water to carry out the flushing of the water distribution system, and with rain forecast in the affected Daventry and Northampton area on Tuesday night, she suggested rainwater from water butts could be used in gardens.

The exact source of the outbreak of the bug is still being investigated, she added.

Residents have been told to boil water or use bottled supplies since the outbreak was confirmed on Wednesday, and have been told they will need to avoid using water direct from the tap until the end of the week.

Anglian Water have handed out 500,000 litres of bottled water to the customers affected.

Mike Templeton, lecturer in enviornmental engineering at Imperial College London, and member of the Chartered Institute of Water and Environment Management, said: "UV treatment kills Cryptosporidium fairly easily.

"Most outbreaks are in unfiltered water. Warm blooded animals are commonly a problem for unfiltered supplies."

Within treatment water works, filtration removes any Cryptosporidium, he added.