The petition, organised by Preston resident John Gibson, is seeking the inquiry to establish “how and why UU seemingly allowed” cryptosporidium into Lancashire’s drinking water, and why there seems to be no contingency plans to deal with the situation.
Gibson said: “This situation, which doubtless would have been the lead story on almost every national news bulletin had it occurred in the southeast of the country, shows no immediate signs of improvement and, as well as the general inconvenience of having to boil water and subsequently let it cool to ambient temperatures before carrying out everyday domestic activities such as washing dishes, several restaurants and other businesses have been forced to close their doors.”
A boil water notice has been in place for more than 300,000 properties across Lancashire as a precaution since traces of cryptosporidium were detected during routine tests at UU’s Franklaw wastewater treatment works on 6 August.
UU has been flushing through pipes and storage reservoirs, and has also now deployed portable ultraviolet (UV) ray equipment to kill off the remaining traces of the parasite.
UU said the first three UV rigs are now up and running, and others are continuing to be installed as planned. “The rigs are being set up in locations across our network following a detailed analysis of how the cryptosporidium bug is working its way through the system,” said the company.
It continued: “These rigs, alongside our flushing and storage reservoir cleaning programme, will bring us a step closer to lifting the boil water notice.
“This will be done in consultation with a number of agencies across Lancashire and we won’t hesitate to lift certain areas before others if we can. In the meantime, a precautionary advice to boil water remains in place.”
UU could face a financial hit of £15 million as it faces rising compensation claims from customers disrupted by the boil water notice.
A version of this story first appeared on wwtonline.