People urged to boil water in Chard area (From Chard & Ilminster News)

People urged to boil water in Chard area

3:41pm Friday 31st October 2008 in

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PEOPLE living in areas including Chard, Tatworth and South Chard are being urged today that they should boil their tap water before using it for drinking, washing food, cooking, cleaning teeth or for medical purposes.

Only water used directly from the tap should be used for washing, bathing and flushing the toilet.

Wessex Water found the coliforms through the regular sampling it carries out on a daily basis. The company analyses around 50,000 water samples a year.

Dr Julian Dennis, director of compliance and sustainability for Wessex Water, said: “We are asking people to boil their water as a precautionary measure while we investigate to find the source of the problem.

“As a responsible water company we are committed to supplying customers with water of the highest quality and it is through one of our vigorous tests to ensure our water meets a high standard that we have discovered the coliform.

“Very occasionally unwanted substances can enter the system that may affect our very high quality standards. When this happens we take extra action to ensure that water is completely safe to drink.

“Although at this stage we are unsure exactly how many people could be affected, as a precautionary measure we are advising people living in Chard and the immediate area to boil their water.”

Wessex Water is currently distributing advice cards to residents in some of the areas affected and the company is urging people who live locally to make neighbours aware of the advice to boil water.