Poison Water (BBC2)
Michael Gove was ridiculed during the Brexit campaign when he said that people ‘have had enough of experts’.
After watching Poison Water, you might well think that he was right.
One day in July 1988, a relief tanker driver delivered aluminium sulphate to a water treatment centre near Camelford in Cornwall. The chemical is routinely used to purify water.
It was his first visit and, finding the centre unmanned, he tipped his load into the manhole cover that his key fitted. It was the wrong cover.
Instead of a storage tank, he had poured the chemical into the main which supplied 20,000 people.
Within hours, complaints were flooding in to the switchboard at the South West Water Authority. ‘Our daughter’s hair has turned green and it’s sticking like glue,’ said one caller.
Others reported black or blue water, bleeding gums, blisters, skin rashes, and stomach upsets. A pet shop owner was in tears because all his animals had died.
Carol Wyatt (pictured) one of the residents of Camelford in Cornwall
Doug Cross (pictured), a local toxicologist. He first realised something was wrong when his wife, Carol, who was having a bath, noticed that the soap had turned blue (acid in the water was stripping copper from the pipes)
As one Camelford resident with a scientific background recalled: ‘There was almost undiluted sulphuric acid coming out of the taps.’
And what was the response of the South West Water Authority? What did the experts advise?
Liberal Democrat peer Paul Tyler, formerly the area’s MP, recalled that the official attitude was this: ‘Don’t worry about it. If the children don’t like the taste, put some orange squash in and it will be OK.’
This seems to have been a deliberate cover-up. The water industry was about to be privatised, and there were fears that a scandal would deter investors.
A brief investigation by a team of scientists didn’t help. They concluded that there was no risk to health, that fears of Alzheimer’s were unfounded, and that the symptoms were probably caused by anxiety.
It was heartbreaking to hear from so many people whose lives had been ruined by the poisoning and its aftermath.
For me, the hero of the hour was Doug Cross, a local toxicologist. He first realised something was wrong when his wife, Carol, who was having a bath, noticed that the soap had turned blue (acid in the water was stripping copper from the pipes).
He formed a makeshift committee of local scientists who tried to establish what had happened.
Doug’s wife Carol (pictured) developed Alzheimer’s symptoms and died in 2004. Post-mortem tests revealed significant amounts of aluminium in her brain
Michael Howard (pictured) was minister for the environment at the time of the water pollution incident. Here, he tells people not to worry about investing in SWWA
But that bath cost Carol her life. In her 50s, she developed Alzheimer’s symptoms. Post-mortem tests revealed significant amounts of aluminium in her brain.
There has been no public inquiry into this scandal, and there probably never will be.
And the water companies? The privatisation was deemed a huge success, and the head of South West Water doubled his pay.
It’s difficult to disagree with one victim’s bitter conclusion: ‘The authorities just aren’t on your side at all.’
Christopher Stevens is away.
