'Boil order' lifted after tap water bacteria alert
A "boil order" issued for parts of North Yorkshire after tap water was found to contain higher than usual levels of a type of bacteria has been lifted.
Yorkshire Water put the order in place earlier this week after coliform, a family of bacteria containing E. coli, was found in tap water in Bentham, High Bentham, Low Bentham and Burton in Lonsdale.
People living in the affected areas had been warned to boil their tap water "until further notice", but that order was lifted by Yorkshire Water on Wednesday afternoon.
A spokesperson said: "We can confirm we are now able to lift the boil water instruction at all affected properties in the area as the water is now back to our usual high standards."
"Customers can now use their tap water as normal," they added.
The lifting of the order came after staff at a home care service in Bentham and the people they looked after spoke of their concerns over the boil order.
Danielle Ward, care manager at Care Legacy, told the BBC that it had caused some difficulties, especially for people with dementia.
"It's a real problem as it's about getting them not to drink it, so we prepared signs that say, 'do not drink the water', but it's hard as they don't understand," she explained.
"The main issue is that when we tried to get water for patients, it was all taken, whether it was taken by vulnerable or non-vulnerable people, there was not a lot in the shops."
Meanwhile, Christine, who has multiple sclerosis and is cared for by Ms Ward, said she had been "quite worried" about the situation.
"I wasn't able to get any bottled water. It was all sold out and despite being told I would get some as I'm vulnerable, none arrived," she explained.
Earlier this week, residents in the affected areas shared their concerns over a lack of bottled water after shopkeepers in Bentham told the BBC they had sold out of them since the boil order had been issued.
Before the boil order was lifted, other businesses had also spoken of their concerns over the impact it could have if it went on for any length of time.
Richard Rucastle, who runs Rucastle Holiday Lets in Ingleton with his wife, told the BBC earlier this week they had not been accepting mid-week bookings in a bid to try and "slow things down".
Mr Rucastle said they had considered cancelling their next visitors, due to arrive on Friday, if there had not been further clarity on the issue from Yorkshire Water.
Meanwhile, Bryan Jeffs, the owner of The Black Pig Cafe, said on Monday that he had stopped serving tap water altogether in favour of bottled water while the boil order remained in place.
But speaking before the order was lifted, Gail Lister, from G & Mo's Cafe in Bentham, said she had taken a pragmatic approach to the issue.
"Ninety nine per cent of the time, you turn the tap on and the water's fine," she said.
"There are so many countries where you cannot drink the water - or countries that do not have clean water."
Confirming the end of the boil order, a Yorkshire Water spokesperson said: "We'd like to apologise to everybody impacted.
"We thank them for their understanding and patience throughout."
Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Residents' bacteria concerns over 'boil order'
'Boil tap water' alert after bacteria discovery
Yorkshire Water
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'Water parasite could cost me sight in one eye'
A woman fears she could partially lose her sight after a water parasite "burrowed" into her eye when she went swimming while wearing contact lenses. Nicola Greenfield, of Rendlesham, Suffolk, has been diagnosed with acanthamoeba keratitis, a painful infection of the cornea - the outer layer that protects the eye. The 58-year-old sought help after her vision became blurred and her right eye started to feel "really sore" and sensitive to light while she was working on her computer. "My vision is incredibly blurred and it feels a bit like getting chilli, lemon juice or bleach in your eye," said Mrs Greenfield, who has had to be signed off work. "The worst case scenario is I lose sight in my right eye and the best case scenario is I lose a little bit – but I am just going to do what I can to try and get better," said Mrs Greenfield. "Since I started treatment it has got a little better, but I am having to wear dark glasses and put blankets against my curtains because I can't bear the light." According to the NHS's Moorfields Eye Hospital website, around two in 100,000 contact lens wearers per year in the UK are diagnosed with acanthamoeba keratitis. The infection is caused by a microscopic organism usually found in bodies of water as well as domestic tap water, swimming pools, hot tubs, soil and air. Some patients can recover within three to six months, while more complicated cases can prove debilitating for as long as a year. Mrs Greenfield was advised to go to Ipswich Hospital after her optician declared she was suffering from a "medical emergency" and needed urgent attention. She has since undergone numerous examinations, biopsies and intensive treatment and has had surgery to remove the top layer of her cornea. "If you wear contact lenses [the parasite] can get trapped behind the lens and start to burrow into the eye," she said. "It is incredibly rare but that, unfortunately, is what's happened to me." Vision Direct says swimming with "contact lenses or getting them wet should be avoided at all times" as doing so can make eyes "vulnerable to contamination by harmful bacteria". Mrs Greenfield, who has worn contact lenses for 40 years, has now warned others to wear goggles and be mindful of purchasing lenses on the internet. "I was always told not to sleep in contact lenses, that was a big no-no, but I don't know why opticians are not telling people not to wear them when they shower or swim," she told the BBC. "Behind the lens is a lovely, warm environment for a germ to breed so people need to be really, really careful. "If I had known then I wouldn't have worn my lenses while swimming." Max Halford, clinical and policy director of the Association of British Dispensing Opticians, said opticians "will always advise on how to handle, clean and replace your contact lenses". "Every UK-based contact lens optician should always provide advice on the correct care and usage of contact lenses both at the initial fitting appointment and at every follow up," he said. "We recommend patients always attend their local opticians for routine contact lenses appointments, usually every 24 months or more often if recommended by your eye care professional. "These appointments are a vital part of your eye health regime if you are a contact lens wearer and they are an opportunity for your optician to review and check the correct procedures are being followed for successful contact lens wear. "Always check with the supplier of your contact lenses that after appointments and advice is available including advice on what to do in an emergency." Follow Suffolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Woman's eyesight saved by cutting-edge test after mystery infection 'My patients complain about dazzling headlights' 'I never expected I would get to 29 and not see' Moorfields Eye Hospital
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
We always joked dad looked nothing like his parents - then we found out why
Matthew's dad had brown eyes and black hair. His grandparents had piercing blue eyes. There was a running joke in his family that "dad looked nothing like his parents", the teacher from southern England says. It turned out there was a very good reason for this. Matthew's father had been swapped at birth in hospital nearly 80 years ago. He died late last year before learning the truth of his family history. Matthew - not his real name - contacted the BBC after we reported on the case of Susan, who received compensation from an NHS trust after a home DNA test revealed she had been accidentally switched for another baby in the 1950s. BBC News is now aware of five cases of babies swapped by mistake in maternity wards from the late 1940s to the 1960s. Lawyers say they expect more people to come forward driven by the increase in cheap genetic testing. During the pandemic, Matthew started looking for answers to niggling questions about his family history. He sent off a saliva sample in the post to be analysed. The genealogy company entered his record into its vast online database, allowing him to view other users whose DNA closely matched his own. "Half of the names I'd just never heard of," he says. "I thought, 'That's weird', and called my wife to tell her the old family joke might be true after all." Matthew then asked his dad to submit his own DNA sample, which confirmed he was even more closely related to the same group of mysterious family members. Matthew started exchanging messages with two women who the site suggested were his father's cousins. All were confused about how they could possibly be related. Working together, they eventually tracked down birth records from 1946, months after the end of World War Two. The documents showed that one day after his father was apparently born, another baby boy had been registered at the same hospital in east London. That boy had the same relatively unusual surname that appeared on the mystery branch of the family tree, a link later confirmed by birth certificates obtained by Matthew. It was a lightbulb moment. "I realised straight away what must have happened," he says. "The only explanation that made sense was that both babies got muddled up in hospital." Matthew and the two women managed to construct a brand new family tree based on all of his DNA matches. "I love a puzzle and I love understanding the past," he says. "I'm quite obsessive anyway, so I got into trying to reverse engineer what had happened." Before World War Two, most babies in the UK were born at home, or in nursing homes, attended by midwives and the family doctor. That started to change as the country prepared for the launch of the NHS in 1948, and very gradually, more babies were delivered in hospital, where newborns were typically removed for periods to be cared for in nurseries. "The baby would be taken away between feeds so that the mother could rest, and the baby could be watched by either a nursery nurse or midwife," says Terri Coates, a retired lecturer in midwifery, and former clinical adviser on BBC series Call The Midwife. "It may sound paternalistic, but midwives believed they were looking after mums and babies incredibly well." It was common for new mothers to be kept in hospital for between five and seven days, far longer than today. To identify newborns in the nursery, a card would be tied to the end of the cot with the baby's name, mother's name, the date and time of birth, and the baby's weight. "Where cots rather than babies were labelled, accidents could easily happen", says Ms Coates, who trained as a nurse herself in the 1970s and a midwife in 1981. "If there were two or more members of staff in the nursery feeding babies, for example, a baby could easily be put down in the wrong cot." By 1956, hospital births were becoming more common, and midwifery textbooks were recommending that a "wrist name-tape" or "string of lettered china beads" should be attached directly to the newborn. A decade later, by the mid-1960s, it was rare for babies to be removed from the delivery room without being individually labelled. Stories of babies being accidentally switched in hospital were very rare at the time, though more are now coming to light thanks to the boom in genetic testing and ancestry websites. The day after Jan Daly was born at a hospital in north London in 1951, her mother immediately complained that the baby she had been given was not hers. "She was really stressed and crying, but the nurses assured her she was wrong and the doctor was called in to try to calm her," Jan says. The staff only backed down when her mum told them she'd had a fast, unassisted delivery, and pointed out the clear forceps marks on the baby's head "I feel for the other mother who had been happily feeding me for two days and then had to give up one baby for another," she says. "There was never any apology, it was just 'one of those silly errors', but the trauma affected my mother for a long time." Matthew's father, an insurance agent from the Home Counties, was a keen amateur cyclist who spent his life following the local racing scene. He lived alone in retirement and over the last decade his health had been deteriorating. Matthew thought long and hard about telling him the truth about his family history but, in the end, decided against it. "I just felt my dad doesn't need this," he says. "He had lived 78 years in a type of ignorance, so it didn't feel right to share it with him." Matthew's father died last year without ever knowing he'd been celebrating his birthday a day early for the past eight decades. Since then, Matthew has driven to the West Country to meet his dad's genetic first cousin and her daughter for coffee. They all got on well, he says, sharing old photos and "filling in missing bits of family history". But Matthew has decided not to contact the man his father must have been swapped with as a baby, or his children – in part because they have not taken DNA tests themselves. "If you do a test by sending your saliva off, then there's an implicit understanding that you might find something that's a bit of a surprise," Matthew says. "Whereas with people who haven't, I'm still not sure if it's the right thing to reach out to them - I just don't think it's right to drop that bombshell." Woman contacted by stranger on DNA site - and the truth about her birth unravelled Swapped at birth: How two women discovered they weren't who they thought they were Canadians switched at birth get an apology 70 years on
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Farm day visitors warned over Cryptosporidium parasite threat
Tens of thousands of visitors due to attend a UK-wide open farm day this weekend have been warned about a parasitic infection that causes serious gastrointestinal illness. There were 17 outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis linked to farms in England and Wales in 2024 and an outbreak in south Wales earlier this year has seen dozens of people fall ill. According to inspection reports from the past five years - released to the BBC under the Freedom of Information Act - some farms repeatedly ignored health inspectors' advice and allowed children to handle sick animals in filthy pens. The organisers of Open Farm Sunday, which sees 190,000 visitors, said its farms have high health and safety standards. Cryptosporidium can cause severe stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhoea and is spread through direct contact with animals or touching surfaces that have animal faeces on them. The young, pregnant women and those with health conditions which affect their immune system can be particularly vulnerable. Public Health Wales said individual cases of cryptosporidiosis linked to visits to Cowbridge Farm Shop at Marlborough Grange Farm in Cowbridge, Vale of Glamorgan, this spring had now risen to 89 people. In England, one of those affected after a farm visit was Emily Fryer's six-year-old son Isaac. He was admitted to hospital after falling ill following a visit to Gannow Farm in Worcestershire last year. Mrs Fryer told the BBC: "He didn't eat or drink for about five days. He just slept all the time. His sugars were dangerously low and they admitted him. "Obviously, I was really worried then. Because he is autistic and non-verbal, we didn't really know how we could help him." Mrs Fryer said the family had taken hygiene seriously when they visited the farm and had washed their hands thoroughly using facilities provided on site. A year earlier the farm had been issued with a prohibition notice by the Health and Safety Executive because it was failing to prevent or control the risk of exposure to cryptosporidium. Those issues were dealt with and the farm was licensed to show animals to the public in 2024. Mrs Fryer said she was disappointed that the farm had been allowed to reopen to visitors. "I just think it's awful," she said. The owners of the farm, which has now stopped its open days, declined to comment when approached by the BBC but have previously said they had "made every precaution possible" to prevent an outbreak. Many farms across the UK have had to diversify their businesses over recent years to boost their profitability, with public open days, petting farms and play barns becoming an important source of income. But inspection reports released to the BBC under the Freedom Information Act by the UK's national cryptosporidium reference unit show that a small number of farms are not meeting health and safety standards - and, in extreme cases, are ignoring warnings from inspectors. On one farm in Wales, which was linked to a number of outbreaks, inspectors found sick animals kept on display and a lack of handwashing facilities, risk assessments and staff training. According to reports, the inspectors told the farm those failings were "consistent with those identified previously. This indicates you are failing to maintain the required improvements from one season to the next". Another farm visited in 2023 had also failed to implement recommendations from a previous inspection, which led to another outbreak of cryptosporidiosis, while another farm, due to host a school visit a few days after inspection, was found to be failing. "Comparing current visit to last year found the conditions worse," the report noted. The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the 16 outbreaks in England last year was a provisional figure and data analysis due to be published later in the month may see that rise. Both Public Health Wales and the UKHSA have warned the estimated 190,000 visitors who will be visiting the 250 farms taking part in Open Farm Sunday this weekend to make sure they take basic hygiene measures. Jo Hatton, an education specialist for organisers of the open farm event LEAF (Linking Environment And Farming), said all its participating farmers were given advice and training on how best to keep visitors safe. "We are supporting farmers to open their farms and with their risk assessments. We are on the phone with farmers checking in with them throughout the planning process and helping them to understand how to ensure that that visit goes smoothly and everyone goes home happy and healthy," she explained. One farm manager who says he is ensuring the highest health and safety standards for visitors on Sunday is Andy Bason, who will be welcoming around 2,000 visitors onto Newhouse Farm, Alresford, Hampshire. He said LEAF's health and safety training had "really opened my eyes to what's needed to host this kind of event". "With the kind of numbers we see, it is a huge task. We want everyone to come here, have a great day and go home safe without any illness," he explained. The National Farmers' Union (NFU) said that the health and safety of all visitors to farms was "taken extremely seriously". Number of people ill from petting farm hits 89 Infection causes girl to lose half her body weight Family attraction confirms outbreak of sickness bug
