UV ray equipment brought in to kill off water bug

Water bosses are bringing in Ultra Violet ray equipment to help kill off the bug in the supply.
United Utilities' john Butcher with a portable UV water treatment deviceUnited Utilities' john Butcher with a portable UV water treatment device
United Utilities' john Butcher with a portable UV water treatment device

United Utilities is to use the portable UV rigs at three sites on the Fylde which it says should make a difference and help kill off the cryptosporidium bug. The equipment, which consists of powerful fluorescent UV lights shining in a tank through which water passes, will be used on water leaving the Warbreck, Weeton and Westby service reservoir outlets.

The UV C rays attack the DNA of the parasite killing it rapidly. It also works on other potentially harmful microbes such as e-coli. John Butcher, UU’s regional supplies manager, said: “Cryoptosporidium is very vulnerable to this UV C light. The normal treatment process at Franklaw deals with it and the water coming out of there is clear, but we have brought this in to deal with the water now going through the system.”

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Gary Dixon UU’s customer services director said they had identified a possible source for the contamination but had to wait for the Drinking Water Inspectorate’s official report.

He said the difficulty now was to flush through the 2,500 miles of pipes and the storage reservoirs which contain 500 million litres of water.

He said: “We are really sorry for the inconvenience this has caused.”

For all our previous coverage on the water contamination situation in Lancashire visit the links below:

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