“Beautiful, isn’t it”, calls over a tourist wearing a bright blue “I love Devon” T-shirt. And as I stand in Brixham harbour looking up at the rows of pretty ice cream-colour homes in the warm lunchtime sunshine, it’s hard to disagree.
Since the 19th century, this quintessential harbour town has justifiably become a hotspot for holidaymakers on a stretch of coast in Torbay known affectionately as the English Riviera.
But amidst the chatter inside the fish and chip shops, fudge-makers and pubs, it’s not the upcoming bank holiday, or even the appointment of a new manager at Torquay United that’s the topic of conversation.
Instead, everyone’s talking about the quality of tap water, or the lack of it.
“We should put up a sign to say we are using sea water instead of South West Water, because it is cleaner,” jokes the owner of the fabulously-decorated Rio’s Fish & Chips.
Keith Johnson, who took over after moving from the West Midlands, says the outbreak of an illness caused by the parasite cryptosporidium has rocked the town.
A faulty valve is suspected to have allowed the parasite to make its way into the water network with the much of town’s population urged to stop using tap water until further notice.
As the UK Health Security Agency announced there had been 46 confirmed cases, with more than 100 people reporting similar symptoms on Friday afternoon, Mr Johnson says he’s had no customers in the first hour-and-a-half of lunchtime opening.
“We’ve been blacklisted,” he says. “No-one is around, it’s so obvious. We usually get coach drops coming in during the week, but we’ve had nothing and the hotels have reported cancellations.
“It’s [cryptosporidium outbreak] scared people away.”
Among those suspected of contracting the parasite is caretaker Bryon Freer, who lives just 800 metres from the Hillhead reservoir.
“It was worse than Covid – it was five days of severe diarrhoea and vomiting,” says the 59-year-old, who believes he caught the bug almost three weeks ago.
“I thought it was norovirus before this week, then I realised the symptoms were identical to cryptosporidium. This has been going on much longer than anyone is making out.”
Mr Freer, who lost money through being out of work while ill, said the £115 in compensation offered by South West Water was well below what people deserved.
“It is typical of a corporate company throwing a small amount of money at the situation to try to keep people quiet,” he says.
Down on the harbour’s edge, in the shadow of a statue commemorating the landing of William of Orange and his invasion army 355 years ago, former care home worker Barry Flack runs a shack selling gifts.
“A couple of weeks ago we had a pirate festival with 70,000 people here, you couldn’t move – but look at today, it’s quiet and those here aren’t spending money,” he says.
Behind him, a replica of the Golden Hind ship that Francis Drake circumnavigated around the world, sits empty.
The town’s Wetherspoon pub, The Vigilance, is busy. But staff aren’t serving coffee or water-based food such as noodles and porridge, and drinkers are making do without ice.
Just looking down the town’s main shopping road, Fore Street, few people are walking around with open boxes of fish and chips or cones of ice cream. Instead, many are clutching plastic-wrapped cases of water bottles.
Some have come from Torbay Fruit Supplies, where worker Rayan Ali has been handing out around £400 worth of water bottles for free. “We deliver too if people can’t carry it,” he says.
He’s down to his last one. Just as well South West Water has set up three water stations at car parks across the town, handing out 129,000 two litre bottles so far.
A few miles west from the cove of the harbour is the long sandy beach of Broadsands which sits at the foot of a rolling hill featuring passing steam trains on Dartmouth’s heritage line.
But the car park isn’t full of visitors, it’s been turned into one of the water stations with well-organised teams of workers loading up the boots of cars and vans.
“The whole thing, it’s disgusting,” says retired plasterer Martin Thackray, who has driven from nearby Whiterock on the edge of Paignton to get water for his bed-ridden wife.
The 68-year-old’s wife, Catherine, came down with diarrhoea on Wednesday night. “She’s been really poorly, we think she’s had it from the water,” says Mr Thackray.
“South West Water should have acted much faster, so many people have been impacted,” he adds, referring to locals’ unhappy that the water company didn’t advice people to stop drinking tap water earlier, despite concerns over people falling unwell.
Only after the company found “small traces” of the parasite in the Hillhead area did it tell residents in parts of Brixham to boil their drinking water on Wednesday. The notice now covers 16,000 homes.
Mr Thackray’s daughter Deborah Winterbourne, 49, says her dog is sick off the tap water. “We first heard about it on Facebook then we got told to stop drinking the water, but it was too late,” she says.
“Then Tesco, Poundland and Iceland sold out of water. We are trying everything but it’s difficult with three children.”
On Thursday evening, South West Water’s chief executive Susan Davy issued a statement saying she was “truly sorry”, adding she knew the company had “fallen significantly short” of what customers expected.
A promise of £115 compensation was made to customers, too.
“They offered £15 first, then felt guilty and offered £100 more,” says John Fairbairn, who lives a short walk from the Broadsands car park and has sympathy with the water company.
The 70-year-old adds: “The network is massive and they have to test a lot of water. Just one of those things that they’ve handled fairly well.”
But it’s hard to find others not criticising South West Water.
Couple Steve Mathis and Jeanette Simpson say the company should have communicated with customers faster, and better, as they sip hot drinks outside K’ohana Cafe on the beachfront.
Ms Simpson, 66, says: “Most people found out through social media, I think they could have contacted more customers directly as many of us were waiting for official confirmation having read things online.”
Mr Mathis, 71, adds that he’s concerned the disease may have spread further afield than Brixham.
He says his friend, living eight miles away in Torquay, had received tests back confirming he had caught the disease.
The virus is caught by drinking water contaminated by the parasite or swallowing dirty water in swimming pools or streams. Coming into contact with infected people can also spread the parasite.
Up the road from the beach, at Broadway Pharmacy, around 60 people showing symptoms of the virus have come asking for help since 8 May, says pharmacy manager Andrew Mawhinney.
On Thursday, he was issued with a letter from the UKHSA that suggested there were now unconfirmed cases across Devon.
“The epidemiology so far suggests that the outbreak is localised to the Brixham area as outlined on South West Water website, however there are anecdotal reports of people experiencing similar symptoms elsewhere in Devon,” it reads.
Mr Mawhinney urges people with symptoms – diarrhoea, sickness and fever – to stay hydrated and exercise hygiene.
“I feel annoyed as a healthcare professional that this could have been handled better,” he says. “On Tuesday evening, they [South West Water] could have issued a precautionary message while they investigated the network for traces of cryptosporidium. It could have resulted in fewer people becoming ill.”
Back in Brixham town centre, inside the Brixham Conservative Social Club, punters are settling in for a Friday evening on £3.80 pints of Carlsberg and Thatchers.
“What’s wrong with her,” says one, talking about a friend. “There must be something in the water,” quips another, as at least some can see the funny side of the crisis facing the town.
On Thursday, Laura Flowerdew, the firm’s chief customer and digital officer, said: “We sincerely apologise for the impact this is having on our customers in the Brixham and Alston areas.
“Protecting the health of our customers and providing them with a clean, fresh drinking water supply is our number one priority and we will continue to work around the clock to make sure that happens as soon as possible.”
