SES Water has said there is “no indication” of contaminated water leaving its Westwood water treatment works after a routine sample from the site tested positive for E-Coli.
The company said it is “increasingly confident” it will shortly be able to lift its precautionary notice to customers in and around Oxted to boil water before drinking it or using it to prepare food.
“Following a positive result for E-coli from one sample at our Westwood water treatment works on Thursday, we put in place a precautionary boil notice for customers whose mains water is supplied from the site – this is around 6,500 properties in and around Oxted in Surrey,” said SES Water wholesale director Tom Kelly.
“We apologise for the inconvenience and concern this may be causing to some of our customers, but it was the right thing to do, based on the information available at the time.
“I am pleased to say that through our investigations over the last 24 hours, involving sampling and analysis of water quality throughout the area covered by the precautionary boil notice, there is no indication of contaminated water leaving the treatment works.
“We are awaiting final confirmation of this with a third set of tests within the next 24 hours but at this stage, based on the latest sampling results, we are increasingly confident we can lift the precautionary boil notice tomorrow (9 October).”