'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
11 hours ago
- Yahoo
Starvation alert as children fill Kenya refugee ward after US aid cuts
Hundreds of thousands of people are "slowly starving" in Kenyan refugee camps after US funding cuts reduced food rations to their lowest ever levels, a United Nations official has told the BBC. The impact is starkly visible at a hospital in the sprawling Kakuma camp in the north-west of the East African nation. It is home to roughly 300,000 refugees who have fled strife in countries across Africa and the Middle East. Emaciated children fill a 30-bed ward at Kakuma's Amusait Hospital, staring blankly at visitors as they receive treatment for severe acute malnutrition. One baby, Hellen, barely moves. Parts of her skin are wrinkled and peeling, leaving angry patches of red - the result of malnutrition, a medic tells the BBC. Across the aisle lies a nine-month-old baby, James, the eighth child of Agnes Awila, a refugee from northern Uganda. "The food is not enough, my children eat only once a day. If there's no food what do you feed them?" she asks. James, Hellen and thousands of other refugees in Kakuma depend on the UN's World Food Programme (WFP) for vital sustenance. But the agency had to drastically reduce its aid operations in many countries after President Donald Trump announced sweeping cuts to US foreign aid programmes earlier this year, as part of his "America First" policy. The US had provided around 70% of the funding for the WFP's operations in Kenya. The WFP says that as a result of the cuts, the agency has had to slash the refugees' rations to 30% of the minimum recommended amount a person should eat to stay healthy. "If we have a protracted situation where this is what we can manage, then basically we have a slowly starving population," says Felix Okech, the WFP's head of refugee operations in Kenya. Outside Kakuma's food distribution centre, the sun beats down on the dry, dusty ground and security officers manage queues of refugees. They are led into a holding centre and then a verification area. Aid workers scan the refugees' identity cards and take their fingerprints, before taking them to collect their rations. Mukuniwa Bililo Mami, a mother of two, has brought a jerrycan to collect cooking oil, along with sacks for lentils and rice. "I am grateful to receive this little [food] but it is not enough," says the 51-year-old, who arrived in the camp 13 years ago from South Kivu, a region in conflict-hit eastern Democratic Republic of Congo Ms Mami says the refugees used to "eat well" - three meals a day. But now that rations are at 30% of their usual amount, the food she has been given is not enough to last one month, let alone the two that she has been asked to stretch it for. She has also been affected by another casualty of the cuts - cash transfers. Until this year, the UN was giving around $4m (£3m) in cash directly to refugees in Kenya's camps each month, intended to allow families to buy basic supplies. Ms Mami, who is diabetic, used the cash to buy food, like vegetables, which were more appropriate for her diet than the cereals handed out at the distribution centre. Now, she is forced to eat whatever is available. She also used the money to start a vegetable garden and rear chicken and ducks, which she sold to other refugees, at a market. But the discontinuation of the cash transfers, locally known as "bamba chakula", has meant that the market faces collapse. Traders like Badaba Ibrahim, who is from the Nuba Mountains in Sudan, are no longer able to extend lines of credit to fellow refugees. The 42-year-old runs a retail shop in the local shopping centre. He says his customers, now unable to purchase food, at times camp at his shop all day, begging for help. "They will tell you, 'My children have not eaten for a full day,'" Mr Ibrahim says. Elsewhere in the Kakuma camp, 28-year-old Agnes Livio serves up food for her five young sons. They live in a cubicle, which is roughly 2m (6ft 6in) by 2m made from corrugated iron sheets. Ms Livio serves the food on one large plate for all to share. It is the family's first meal of the day - at 1400. "We used to get porridge for breakfast but not anymore. So, the children have to wait until the afternoon to have their first meal," says Ms Livio, who fled from South Sudan. Back at Amusait Hospital, medics are feeding a number of malnourished infants through tubes. Three toddlers and their mothers are being discharged - back to the community where food is scarce and conditions are deteriorating. And the prospect of more funding is not very promising and unless things change over the next two months, the refugees are staring at starvation come August. "It is a really dire situation," admits Mr Okeck. "We do have some signals from some one or two donors about support with that cash component. "But remember, the very kind and generous US has been providing over 70% - so if you're still missing 70%… those prospects are not good." 'My wife fears sex, I fear death' - impacts of the USAID freeze Africa is important to Trump, despite aid cuts, envoy tells BBC] Nigeria and Kenya among nations running out of HIV drugs - WHO How Trump locked out contraception in Africa Go to for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica Focus on Africa This Is Africa
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
'I made the sign of victory for Siwar': Mother's relief as malnourished Gaza baby evacuated to Jordan
The cry was frail but I could hear Siwar Ashour even before she was carried out of the coach. It was the cry of a voice that won't give up, of a child born in this war and who has now, for a while at least, managed to escape it. In person six-month-old Siwar is tinier than any visual image can convey. She weighs 3kg (6.6lb) but should be twice that. Her mother, Najwa, 23, smiled as she described her feelings on crossing into Jordan on Wednesday, when her daughter was evacuated from Gaza with other Palestinian children. The first thing she noticed was the quiet. "It feels like there is a truce," she told me. "We will spend our night without rockets and bombing with God's will." Siwar was also accompanied by her grandmother Reem and her father Saleh who is blind. "The first and last goal of this trip is Siwar," said Saleh. "We want to get her to a safe shore. I want to make sure she is safe and cured. She's my daughter, my own flesh and blood. And I'm so deeply worried about her." It was Reem who carried Siwar off the bus onto Jordanian soil, forming her fingers into a V sign as she came. "Until now I can't believe that I have arrived in Jordan. I saw King's Abdullah's photo at the border and I felt so happy I got off the bus and made the sign of victory…for the sake of Siwar." Back in April when the BBC first filmed Siwar at Nasser hospital in southern Gaza, her mother and doctor said she was suffering from malnutrition because the special milk formula she needed could not be found in sufficient quantity. Her body was emaciated. Najwa said then she could not breastfeed Siwar because she herself was suffering from malnutrition. Tins of milk formula were found and delivered by the Jordanian Field hospital and by private fundraisers. But with an Israeli blockade on aid, which was partially eased three weeks ago, and an escalating military offensive it was clear Siwar's condition needed more comprehensive testing and treatment. In a deal announced between King Abdullah and US President Donald Trump in February, Jordan offered to bring 2000 seriously ill children to Amman for treatment. Gaza's devastated medical system cannot cope with the level of sickness and war wounded. Since March, 57 children along with 113 family escorts have been evacuated. Sixteen children came on Wednesday, including Siwar. Cradled in her grandmother's arms, Siwar stared with her large eyes at the unfamiliar crowds of police, medical workers, and journalists gathered on the border. She was taken to an air conditioned hall where Jordanian medics handed out drinks and food to the children. There was peace and plenty. What was most obvious was the exhaustion of parents and children alike. In several months of covering these evacuations this latest was the most striking in terms of a sense of communal trauma. All of these families know what it is to be driven from one area to another by Israeli evacuation orders, or to queue for hours in the hope of finding food. If they have not experienced death in their family, they will definitely know friends or relatives who have been killed. Families are often separated by conflict as parents search for food or medical treatment. One day Najwa took Siwar to hospital and that was the last time husband Saleh was with them for two months. "I thought she would be gone for just three or four days and then come back, a simple treatment and she'd return," he recalled. "But I was shocked that it dragged on and took so long…and eventually I realised that her condition is very serious and difficult." We travelled from the border to Amman with Siwar and her family. Najwa is pregnant and fell into a deep sleep. Siwar remained awake in her grandmother's arms. On the same ambulance were two boys suffering from cancer, along with their mothers and two younger siblings. One of the siblings, a boy of four, cried constantly. He was tired and scared. After an hour we reached Amman and Siwar was transferred into the arms of a nurse and then to another ambulance. Over the next few days she will be tested and given the kind of treatment that is simply impossible under current conditions in Gaza. And her mother, father and grandmother - those who watch over her - will sleep without fear. WIth additional reporting by Alice Doyard, Suha Kawar, Mark Goddard and Malaak Hassouneh. 'Situation is dire' - BBC returns to Gaza baby left hungry by Israeli blockade 'No food when I gave birth': Malnutrition rises in Gaza as Israeli blockade enters third month Gaza now worse than hell on earth, humanitarian chief tells BBC
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
WTA gives ranking protection for players who freeze eggs
The WTA has introduced a new measure to protect the ranking of players who freeze their eggs or embryos (Dylan Buell) Women tennis players who take time out of the game to freeze eggs or embryos will have their ranking protected, the WTA Tour announced on Wednesday. Players ranked from one to 750 in singles or doubles who spend at least 10 consecutive weeks out of competition for a "fertility protection procedure" are eligible. Advertisement The ranking can be used to enter up to three tournaments but the policy does not apply to the premier 1000 events. The special ranking will be based on the 12-week average of a player's WTA ranking from eight weeks prior to the start of their out-of-competition period. Sloane Stephens, the 2017 US Open champion, told the BBC the rule will reduce the pressure on players to return to the court too quickly. Stephens said she had twice previously used the off-season to freeze her eggs. The 32-year-old said in the WTA statement that she was "incredibly proud of our sport in recognising the importance of fertility treatments for female athletes". Advertisement "For any woman, the conversation of family life versus a career is nuanced and complex," she said. "The WTA has now created a safe space for players to explore options and to make the best decisions for themselves." The WTA said in a statement that the "Fertility Protection Special Entry Ranking Rule" would enhance the existing package of benefits to help players combine family life with tennis. WTA CEO Portia Archer said: "We understand that professional athletes can face a dilemma between focusing on their career and starting a family, and we are committed to supporting WTA players as they navigate and balance the choices associated with career and family." Advertisement In March the WTA and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced the introduction of a maternity fund programme, giving players paid maternity leave for up to 12 months and access to grants for fertility treatments. The PIF is a global partner of the WTA Tour. jw/kca/mw