Rural residents blighted by rats in their water supply

People living in rural communities are forced to deal with rats, tadpoles and brown bath water on a daily basis because they are not connected to a mains water supply, MPs have heard.

The blight of rural communities was raised in a Westminster Hall debate in which the government came under fire for failing to support those living in properties without a water mains connection.

The debate on rural water connections focused mainly on a hamlet in the northeast of England where MP Simon Clarke said residents have been told to boil water since 2017 before consuming it.

Clarke called for legislative changes to support people without mains supplies who could not afford to have their homes added to the network. In rural locations, residents not on a mains network are responsible for paying for services.

The Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) said in 2022, 1.7% of the population get their water from a private supply. Local authorities are the regulators of private supplies and responsible for identifying any risks to its quality.

The cost of connecting the nine homes in the hamlet of Aysdalegate in East Cleveland could be up to £200,000, which Clarke suggested the Department for environment, food and rural affairs (Defra) should assume responsibility for.

He described it as: “A classic example of a case where the associated infrastructure cost needs to be socialised.”

Clarke proposed new legislation and called on Defra to consider a special fund to enable work in “truly exceptional circumstances” where people could not afford the connection fees and the private supply is inadequate.

Residents of Aysdalegate are supplied by a private source that was rated as “unsatisfactory” drinking water quality owing to bacterial contamination including E.coli and enterococci. Redcar and Cleveland council served residents with a boil notice, which has remained in place for more than four years.

“Residents have reported to me their disgust at finding tadpoles and evidence of rodents and other animal life in their drinking water,” Clarke said.

He criticised government for not ensuring clean, safe drinking water to homes in England, when it had spent £188 million between 2020 and 2021 on overseas drinking water projects.

Rebecca Pow, Defra minister, defended the current legislation that places the responsibility of cost on customers not the water company and pointed to self-lay providers as well water companies to connect properties and offer more competitive costs.

She added: “There is a mechanism, but it is effectively out of reach for, in this case, a very deprived group of people.”

Northumbrian Water was praised in the session for beginning exploratory work into options to connect the nine homes, or improve the current supply, or treatment options.

Kieran Ingram, water director at Northumbrian, said: “We are aware of the issues with water connection in Aysdalegate and the impact it has had on residents. We are in contact with the local MP, Simon Clarke, and are open to considering ways we can assist the local community while keeping within the regulatory framework.”