Customers in Darlington no longer need to boil their water before drinking it.
The announcement is being made by Northumbrian Water and the UK Health Security Agency (formerly Public Health England) following a boil notice that had been placed as a precautionary measure in some areas of the town since Tuesday, February 1.
Following the fault at the Broken Scar Treatment Works, teams from the water company, in conjunction with UKHSA, had been carrying out a series of water quality tests at various locations on the water networks across the Darlington area.
These tests have now been complete and following analysis the results show that the tap water meets the high-quality standards expected and is safe for customers to drink again.
Every sample carried out across Darlington since the fault at the Treatment Works on Tuesday had passed water quality and safety tests.
All boil notices that had previously been in place for customers throughout Darlington are now removed.
The water company is updating customers about this through social media, local media, text messages and emails and sharing the information through Darlington Borough Council resident networks. ‘Safe to drink’ advice leaflets are also being hand delivered by teams of water company employees to those customers who were affected.
Northumbrian Water’s Water Director Keith Haslett said: “We’re pleased to report that all of the results from our thorough testing regime over the last few days have come back showing that the water meets the high-quality standards we require and both ourselves and the UK Health Security Agency are happy that the boil notice for the Darlington area can be removed.
“Everyone who has been affected can now return to using and drinking their tap water as usual.
“We’re very sorry for any inconvenience or concern that this has caused local people, businesses and communities and would like to thank the people of Darlington for their support and understanding over the last couple of days.
“Thankfully incidents of this nature are incredibly rare for us and our customers, but I’d like to reassure everyone that we’ll be doing everything we can, learning from this incident, to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
Penny Spring, Director of Public Health for Darlington, said: “Results have showed that every water sample in the Darlington area since Tuesday (February 1) has passed strict safety tests, and that the water is now safe to drink. This is great news and I fully support this decision by Northumbrian Water to remove the precautionary notice to boil water, in line with expert advice from a range of partners.”