Hundreds of homes in Surrey have been issued a 'do not drink' notice by Thames Water, as samples collected after a fuel leak revealed high levels of hydrocarbons in the water supply.
Schools, businesses 616 homes in Bramley, south of Guildford, have been told their water is currently unsafe to drink following the discovery of hydrocarbons— a chemical compound which forms the basis for crude oil, natural gas and coal.
Residents were today seen picking up water from a collecting point, while bottles and letters detailing the risk were also delivered to affected households.
It comes as locals in Devon are still boiling tap water following a parasite outbreak in their water supply, with cases of infection now reaching 100.
Households in Bramley have been warned not to drink their tap water or use it for cooking, or brushing their teeth, but they can continue to use the water to shower and wash their hands.
Two bottled water stations have been set up in the village at Bramley Community Library and Artington Park and Ride and will be open until 9pm tonight.
SURREY: Bramley residents at a bottled water station after being told not to drink tap water
A Bramley resident carrying bottles of water from a water station
SURREY: A local woman speaking to a Thames Water worker at a bottled water station in Bramley
SURREY: Residents must collect water from stations after a suspected fuel leak saw them issued with 'do not drink' warnings
SURREY: Residents getting water from a collection point in Bramley today after a fuel a leak
The warning threatens to be an election setback for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the MP for the constituency.
The Conservative MP yesterday had a call with the UKHSA, DEFRA, Thames Water and Asda who acquired the village petrol station.
Thames Water has been regularly collecting and assessing water samples in Bramley following a historical fuel leak from the village petrol station.
Test results have indicated that there has been a 'possible deterioration' in water quality in some areas.
As a result, the 'do not drink' advice has been put in place as a 'precautionary measure'.
SURREY: Thames Water has been regularly collecting and assessing water samples in Bramley following a historical fuel leak from the village petrol station (pictured) now operated by ASDA
SURREY: Households in Bramley have been warned not to drink their tap water or use it for cooking, or brushing their teeth, but they can continue to use the water to shower and wash their hands
SURREY: Thames Water tests revealed hydrocarbons in the supply following a previous fuel leak. Pictured: The ASDA petrol station
SURREY: Residents collecting water from a collecting point in the village
A map depicting the village of Bramley, south of Guildford, where the 'do not drink' notice has been issued by Thames Water
Households in Bramley have been issued the following 'do not drink' notice:
Don't drink the tap water yourself or give t to pets
Don't prepare or cook food using tap water
Don't use tap water to brush your teeth
Don't use tap water even after boiling
You can use tap water to wash and to flush the toilet after use
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Mr Hunt held a meeting with Thames Water CEO Chris Weston in April to discuss water outages, slow compensation payments and sewage spills. He is due to hold another public meeting in June.
It comes as cases of cryptosporidium, a parasite that primarily infects people through faeces-contaminated drinking water has now reached 100.
Most of the infections are in Devon but outbreaks have also been reported in Oxfordshire and Worcestershire over the past two months.
The most serious outbreak relates to faecal-contaminated drinking water in Brixham, Devon, which started earlier this month.
However, dozens more Brits, including children, have fallen severely ill since the end of March after outbreaks at petting farms.
Whole streets in Brixham have been infectedwith victims forced to endure days of diarrhoea and agonising stomach cramps, with one sufferer even comparing them to 'childbirth.
A total of 616 homes in Bramley, (pictured) south of Guildford, have been told their water contains high levels of hydrocarbons, making it unsafe to drink
Residents have been forced to boil water for over a week to make it safe to drink, with some shops running out of bottled supplies due to panic-buying.
The source of the outbreak appears to be damaged air valve in the water supply line which 'may have allowed animal waste or contaminated groundwater to enter the local supply'.
While faecal contaminated water is the classic way people get infected with cryptosporidium there are other ways you could be struck down with the bug.
One of these is direct contact with infected animals, a fate that potentially seems to have befallen dozens of Brits in recent months.
A spokesperson for Thames Water said: 'Thames Water would like to reassure its customers that the village water supply has been safe to drink up to this point, as confirmed through its rigorous water testing, which has also been subject to regular review working alongside UKHSA throughout this period.'
DEVON: South West Water handing out emergency rations of bottled water to anyone affected by theCryptosporidium outbreak in Torbay
DEVON: Locals in Brixham, Boohay, Kingswear, Roseland and north-east Paignton in Devon were all told to boil water as a precaution
DEVON: Bottled water has been supplied to residents in Brixham following an outbreak ofcryptosporidium in the water supply
DEVON: South West Water unloading crates of bottled water to distribute to locals in south Devon
DEVON: Hillhead Reservoir, the underground reservoir where the outbreak of bacteria is thought to have originated
DEVON: Staff from South West Water at the scene of the outbreak atHillhead Farm in Brixham
Tess Fayers, Operations Director for the Thames Valley and Home Counties said: 'We are asking 616 Bramley properties not to drink the tap water following recent water sampling results.
'The health and safety of our customers is our number one priority, and we would like to reassure residents that this is a precautionary measure. We are in the process of delivering letters and bottled water to the affected properties.
'We are also identifying locations to set up bottled water stations, and we will share this information with our customers as soon as possible.
'We are already on site in the village, proactively replacing sections of our pipes on Horsham Road to reduce the risk to our customers.'
An Asda spokesperson said: 'We are continuing to work closely with Thames Water and other partners to address the issues we inherited after acquiring the Bramley PFS site. We recognise the impact this has had on the residents of Bramley and share their frustrations. We are committed to working with all parties to resolve this situation as quickly as possible.'
Meanwhile, Britain's greatest beauty spots and most stunning waterways are being continually polluted by water companies who say it is 'not cost beneficial' to upgrade the network to prevent leakage in half of all cases, MailOnline can reveal.
In the last year alone, beauty spots in Cumbria, the Cotswolds, Cornwall and Sussex have all seen enormous sewage spills blighting the lives of residents and desecrating the natural environment.
Earlier this month, it was revealed million of litres of raw sewage had 'illegally pumped' into Lake Windermere in the Lake District after a fault.
Data analysis by MailOnline shows water firms decided there was 'no cost beneficial solution' to prevent 280 discharge sites in England that, due to lack of capacity, pumped untreated sewage into rivers and seas for hundreds of hours last year.
The 280 sites across the country comprise 48 per cent of 582 offending sites - which discharged for a total of nearly 375,000 hours last year - where a decision on whether to resolve the issue or not has been made.
