To think this should be front page news?

[worrieddaughter97]

A town in this country is living in third world conditions, with poisoned tap water!

Yet these people take hundreds of thousands of pounds in bonuses every year!

https://news.sky.com/story/brixham-water-disease-outbreak-may-last-a-week-and-infected-could-be-ill-for-up-to-a-month-expert-warns-13136944

I haven't seen or heard of anyone refusing to pay water bills, is this everywhere or only in certain areas? The whole thing makes me paranoid though, I remember there was a cryptosporidum outbreak where I lived a few years ago and we had to boil everything, i was scared to drink tap water for ages afterwards.

Hardly third world conditions…
My mum and my sister live there , it’s looking like a leaky valve let cryptosporidium bacteria in . Not pleasant for the 46 people who have it so far but hardly a mass poisoning exercise! Bottled water being handed out although boiling it yourself does the job

While it is inconvenient, residents of Brixham can boil their water using a plentiful supply of gas or electricity. Or they can collect bottles of clean water.

They are not trekking for many kilometres across barren land looking for firewood or water, which is likely to be infected with diseases such as malaria. The women do this, mostly in groups to reduce the risk of rape.

I don't think we can sensibly compare that with Brixham.

This happens regularly enough where I live in Ireland. We've had boil water notices that last for weeks.

Ds got a cryptosporidium infection last summer from an outbreak in a local swimming pool and he was really sick from it. He recovered after about a week to 10 days but I would say that if you had any underlying conditions it could be really dangerous.

It was a faulty valve and I whilst I am very sympathetic to the people who have got ill the residents of Brixham, they really aren't experiencing conditions of the 'third world' as you put it....by the way that's pretty outdated! Things break. I recall something similar happening when I was growing up.

That said, the water companies are totally shit and make ridiculous profits. SWW especially so.

I'm sorry but it is third world. I don't care if it is outdated, or "incorrect".

so this not front page enough for you?

Well I couldn't find it in the copy of the Daily Star that I picked up in the betting shop, but there is a riveting piece that we should all read, and I quote,

"Pope holds press conference on aliens as 'supernatural occurrences' increase"

I didn't read it myself, but coloured all the 'O's in whilst waiting for the results of the last race at Newmarket. (I lost again 😡There goes the kid's KFC tonight. It'll be jelly and evaporated milk again. I'm afraid 😕

No.

Why are other stories leading?

Because more people are interested in a major ongoing conflict or in nationwide health concerns than in a localised water contamination.

I don't think that should be hard to understand.

I heard it on Radio 2 this week. Not the first time something like this has happened, Camelford water poisoning in 1988 affected thousands. South West Water again too.

In the grand scheme of things, it’s not really that surprising it’s behind critical global events is it? I don’t doubt it’s very unpleasant to have crypto, but nobody is getting help hostage, tortured, raped or executed are they?

Ah, my neck of the woods (just about!).

It’s been handled appallingly by South West Water. Lots of anger being directed towards them, especially as those in the South West pay the highest water rates in the country.

In fairness, finding the source of the problem was made very difficult for them.
Allegedly, a farmer refused SWW access to his land to investigate what they thought might be the problem. Apparently the farmer had damaged a water pipe and didn’t alert SWW when it happened. Of course, this could just be local rumours!

Oh come on - it's not 'third world' in any way whatsoever.

It's a one off isolated incident, which is why it's news at all and not just the norm.

People are getting this water through their taps in their own homes, not trekking miles on foot to find it.

Kids aren't having to miss school so they can go and gather this water.

Women aren't risking rape as they go to gather the water each day on foot.

People can stick on a kettle and boil this water inside their houses. Their warm, dry, safe houses with walls. And ELECTRICITY. They can make the water safe immediately and easily.

If they get sick they can go to the publicly funded GP and get medicine prescribed easily and pick it up readily.

If they get very sick, they can go to hospital and receive treatment, including rehydration.

If they get sick, they are not already so malnourished from starvation that their weak bodies cannot handle the infection.

If their children get sick, they are not already so weak that they'll die from it, like hundreds of other children before them in their families and villages.

None of this is 'third world'. It's just a nasty bug in the water and it's gross and unpleasant. Water companies are taking fat bonuses at the same time as dumping record amounts of sewage into our water as well. Water companies are vile. But this is not a developing nation and no part of this incident is comparable to one. You sound spoiled.

Its been all over the TV and radio for a few days ?

It's been headline news for days! Are you complaining about it being behind Gaza? Because as disgraceful as it is, it's clearly not comparable to 35,000 civilians being systematically butchered, so I think the news outlets have their priorities right there.

The same thing happened to us when we lived in Northampton about 15 years ago. I don’t remember it being such an outrage. We got compensation, had to use bottled water for a while and that was about it. Yes it’s terrible that people have been so ill, but I’m not sure it’s front page news.

South West water again. Managed to poison it with diesel in 2006 and of course Camelford with aluminium in the 80s.

It's hardly third world conditions.

I've lived in the third world. I agree that our water companies are bloody awful and have been taking the piss for years, but we used to have to boil our water before we drank it as a matter of course. Our power failed on such a regular basis that we had a paraffin lamp and candles on permanent standby. Many children were not in school and a fair proportion were malnourished.

South West Water are also one of the most expensive water companies in the England.

CEO of Severn Water was being interviewed on the radio this morning. The interviewer asked if it was correct that she had been paid £13 million over the last 4 years. She replied something like that. I'm thinking that maybe the water companies need to spend less on salaries and more on infrastructure.

This exact thing happened in the 90's in Devon... I can't remember what bug it was, but lots of Devon was affected.
We were camping and my parents ended up getting ill... The whole campsite pretty much got it, there was no toilet roll and queues at 2am for the loos!
They'd bought me a massive pack of pre mixed drinks cartons which is why I hadn't caught it.
The news was reporting only similar numbers of cases, but it must have been thousands of people affected.

It was the first story on the News at Ten on the BBC yesterday.

It's so ignorant when there is a disruption to essential services and people rabbit on about living in third world conditions.

This happened in Lancashire a few years ago. It was national news then like it is now.