Burst water main sparks boil water notice

About 900 properties in Devon have been told to boil their water as a precautionary measure due to a burst water main.

South West Water issued the notice for the Chagford area on Monday morning. By 13:50 BST, the utility said the leak had been repaired but added it could take "some time" for supplies to return to homes and businesses.

The water company said the precautionary measure was still in place while it undertook the "necessary water quality checks" following the "complex" repair of the burst main.

Deli shop owner Chris Mount said it had been closed since Sunday because, without running hot water businesses serving food could not open by law.

Mount said: "Some of the shops are open, which is great, but you can't eat anything in town at the moment.

"It has had a huge impact... We should be bustling, we would have tables out and it would be full of people."

He said his shop had to have running hot water at all times because staff needed to wash their hands to avoid any cross contamination.

"We're closed until such time it's back operational again," Mount said.

He said he was sure teams from the company were doing everything they possibly could to resolve the situation, but could do better by keeping people and businesses more "abreast of the situation".

The utility said it was communicating directly with affected customers and that would continue to provide regular updates customers, with bottled water delivered to its priority customers.

Resident Barrie Atkinson said he was "relieved" the burst water main had been repaired.

"There's hardly a person in Chagford who hasn't had a fairly miserable time for the last 36 hours," he said.

He said the water company had behaved "professionally" during the incident as staff found the leak and "got to work in difficult circumstances pretty quickly".

Atkinson added: "I remember other occasions where people have been without water for a week or more.

"In this instance, it has been resolved relatively quickly, and thank goodness for that, because I think all of us were thinking it was bad enough for one day."

Sue Rogers, manager of a local dairy deli, said her business had been fortunate because a lot of its food items were made in its other shop in Moretonhampstead, which had water.

Rogers also said she had bought two big tubs of water from her farm so staff could do the washing up and serve cups of tea in takeaway cups to customers because they were unable to serve coffee from a machine.

"We're carrying on the best we can," she said.

Rogers said, due to being one of the only food businesses open, they had been "flat out" and sold more than they would usually sell on a Monday.

They have also been offering people bottles of water to those who were short to "help each other out".

South West Water said in an updated statement: "Customers may not see their water supply restored immediately, and we ask for continued patience while the system recovers.

"As a precaution, a boil water notice is in place while we complete the necessary water quality checks following the complex repair.

"Customers should continue to boil tap water before using it for drinking, food preparation, brushing teeth, or any other consumption purposes."

The water company said its teams were working hard to restore normal service as quickly as possible, and understood the "inconvenience" caused.

It added a bottled water station was available at Chagford Primary School, and it would continue delivering water to customers on its priority services register.

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