Anglian Water has revealed that it knew there was a concern about the safety of water leaving the Pitsford Water Treatment Works on Tuesday June 24, the day before 250,000 people in the Daventry area and Northampton were warned to boil drinking water.

Anglian Water takes samples from Pitsford to its lab in Huntingdon to test for cryptosporidium, and double checks when the alarm is initially raised.

A spokesman for Anglian Water told the Daventry Express: "At 1.30am (on Wednesday, June 24] we had the results of the second check.
"We got the first results the previous day that were saying we need to do this again, but there was not a significant number (of the parasite]."

The water company first alerted the public to boil tap water before drinking it shortly after 6am on the Wednesday, more than four hours after the second positive test results and the day after it was initially detected.
However the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said that when companies detect cryptosporidium in water supplies a boil notice should be made immediately to protect the public health before any further investigation into the contamination. The DWI is currently investigating the outbreak.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has now confirmed the total number of cases of cryptosporidiosis connected to the contamination stands at 13, with a further 13 cases being investigated.
The HPA said around 700 people worried they had been infected had given stool samples to their GPs for analysis.
It can take up to 10 days for symptoms of the illness to emerge, which include diarrhoea, stomach pains, dehydration and fever, and it can take a week for a healthy person to recover.

The source of the contamination has now been traced back to a "small rabbit" which got into the treatment works through a remote ancillary tank shortly before the parasite was discovered.
Peter Simpson, Anglian Water's chief operating officer, said "Our investigations have concluded that this occurrence was due to a combination of unusual circumstances. We have already taken steps to ensure that this cannot happen again.

"We continually monitor the quality of our water. This monitoring enabled us to detect low levels of cryptosporidium at a very early stage, isolate the affected part of the process and take immediate steps to alert customers."

The type of cryptosporidium found is unusual and tests to understand it are on-going.
Anglian Water says it will compensate customers for six weeks worth of water for the inconvenience caused by the alert, which saw residents having to boil all drinking water for 10 days.

Daventry District Council is joining with Northampton Borough Council to review the response to the water alert and see what lessons can be learned.
The borough council has organised a public meeting at Northampton's Guildhall on Wednesday from 3-5pm and from 6-8pm.

People living in the Daventry district can go along to tell their experiences, or they can contact DDC by emailing scrutiny
andimprovement@daventrydc.
gov.uk or call 01327 302421.