Confusion over boil water notices

Customers have been told to boil water due to a water bug alert

Householders in Gwynedd and Anglesey, who have been told boil their drinking, want better identification of affected areas.

Welsh Water sent out letters to 45,000 customers after the bug cryptosporidium was discovered at a water plant.

Now, some people claim they received the notice despite previously being told they were unaffected.

Welsh Water said the information was sent out on a postcode basis and they were anxious not to leave anyone out.

The company issued its third warning in three years after a rise in the parasite was detected at the Mynydd Llandegai treatment plant near Bangor.

Advice

According to the National Public Health service for Wales there are no confirmed cases of cryptosporidium in the Bangor or Anglesey area following the boil water notices.

Customers have been contacting the BBC however about the advice they have been given.

"I rang the company and gave then my postcode at the weekend, and was told we were OK to drink the water without boiling," said Elfyn Owen from Llanrug near Caernarfon.

"Then on Tuesday we received a letter in the post saying we should boil our supply."

Mr Owen said he was unconcerned about himself, but worried about any effect drinking the water might have had on his children and also elderly and disabled neighbours.

Postcode

"I can't understand why they don't know where we get our water, and I don't understand this postcode thing either, because when I rang I gave them my postcode and I was told it was fine," he added.

Vaughan Hughes from Benllech, Anglesey, speaking on BBC Radio Cymru's Taro'r Post, said he had a similar experience.

"We receive our water here from Mynydd Bodafon, not Mynydd Llandegai, and these letters have frightened people unnecessarily," he said.

Paul Brook, also from Benllech, added: "The postcodes in question that I am aware of who received the notices cover the LL74 and LL75 areas - a huge geographic area.

"Surely Welsh Water can put a marker on each customer account to distinguish from where their water supply is received," he said.

In a statement Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water said it was aware that a "small number of customers", who are outside the area supplied by Mynydd Llandegai water treatment works, had received boiling orders as they had a similar postcode with others who are affected.

"We regret that some people received this information (who are not affected) but in a speedily arranged exercise we were anxious to ensure that we did not leave out customers who needed the information," it said.