Camelford Water Poisoning Could Have Contributed To Death

The death of Carole Cross may have been caused by water poisoned after a mistake at a treatment plant years earlier.

Coroner Michael Rose accused South West Water of ‘gmabling’ with the lives of up to 20,000 people by not telling them for over two weeks about Britian’s worst mass poisonong.

Cross lived in Camelford, Cornwall, in 1988 when aluminium sulphate was added to the wrong treatment tank and polluted the drinking water.

Coroner Rose said that this may have contributed to the death, but could not say conclusively that it caused it.

In 2004 when Mrs Cross died very high levels of aluminium were found in her brain and the coroner called for more research into the effects of aluminium on public health.

He went to say the people of Camelford had “no need to fear” poisoning, "I have little doubt the overwhelming number of residents in July 1988 ingested little or no aluminium."

Camelford's drinking water was poisoned in July 1988, when a relief delivery driver mistakenly tipped 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at Lowermoor treatment works. The chemical, used to treat cloudy water, went straight into the town's mains supply.

Despite being inundated with nearly 1,000 complaints, the then South West Water Authority (SWWA) insisted the water was safe to drink and advised customers to disguise the "foul" taste by mixing it with orange juice to make it more palatable.

Mr Rose criticised the water authority for not informing the public about the poisoning for 16 days - a delay he described as "unacceptable".

Shortly after the incident, people in the area began reporting a range of health issues, including stomach cramps, rashes, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers and aching joints.

Some residents even said their hair turned green from copper residues.

A post-mortem revealed very high levels of aluminium in her brain. Professor Chris Exley from Keele University described the levels as "beyond belief".

At the time of her death Mrs Cross was suffering from cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) - also known as congophilic angiopathy - a very rare form of dementia.

Professor James Nicoll, a neuro-pathologist, told the inquest that in an Italian study rats given aluminium in their drinking water developed the same rare form of dementia. But he said that further study and research is needed.

Following the inquest, South West Water - the current body which took over in 1989 when the industry was privatised - said rigorous regulation and heavy investment had "transformed" water treatment works.

"Site access and chemical deliveries are always strictly controlled," James King, the head of drinking water services, said in a statement.

"Continual monitoring and quality alarm systems now provide real time information which can be acted upon within seconds to tackle any problem which might arise and if necessary shut down a works."

(H)