MP demands Parliamentary grilling of UU

A Lancashire MP is demanding that United Utilities (UU) faces a parliamentary inquiry into the cryptosporidium outbreak that hit the company in the summer.

Conservative MP for South Ribble, Seema Kennedy, told Utility Week she will push the chair of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee, Huw Irranca-Davies, to grill UU on its handling of the parasite contamination incident.

UU issued a boil water notice to 300,000 properties at the start of August after it found traces of cryptosporidium at its Franklaw water treatment works near Preston. This was not fully lifted until the following month after the water network was flushed an UV rigs installed to kill the last traces of the bug.

A previous push to get the Efra committee to hold an inquiry into the incident, led by local residents signing a petition, failed, but Kennedy said that once the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) has published its report into the incident, she will call for it again.

“It is important for residents to have some reassurance from UU on this issue, and I will raise more questions on their behalf,” she said.

“There is a lot of uncertainty for residents and there is uncertainty of the cause, which has led to a lot of scare mongering. UU needs to answer these questions.”

Kennedy added she has urged the DWI to publish a timetable of when it is due to release its report on the incident, adding that once it has been published, “we can start getting answers”.

UU faces a higher than expected bill of £25 million as a result of the parasitic contamination because of the compensation payments to domestic and business customers, and for other associated costs.

The company was also forced to postpone by 12 months its plans for a maintenance project of the Haweswater Aqueduct just two weeks before it was due to start.