Carol Wyatt was out for dinner with her friends on a warm summer’s evening when she noticed something strange. As she was cutting into her steak, she looked down at her fingernails. They were the colour of blue denim.
When she arrived home, Carol saw that her toenails were turning the same colour. Not only this, they were falling off. After a couple of days, her brown hair began to turn to orange. Then came the mouth ulcers, stomach pains and diarrhoea.
After weeks of illness, Carol didn’t realise the cause. She would never have believed it to be the water coming out of her own kitchen tap.
On 6th July 1988 in the town of Camelford, a relief delivery driver accidentally tipped a 20 ton load of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at the Lowermoor water treatment works near the town. The chemical which is normally used in small quantities to cleanse water supplies caused an “almost instantaneous contamination of the water.”
The mistake made by this delivery driver would go on to affect the taps of 7000 homes and the 20,000 people who lived around the area.
Scientists say that locals were exposed to between 500 and 3000 rimes the maximum level of aluminium which is permitted by EU law.
However, the true crime was committed by South West Water Company (SWWA), who had known and lied about the safety of the water for 17 days which would have catastrophic repercussions for local residents.
Carol, now 56 from St Minver, near Camelford said that when she called the SWWA, they told her not to be concerned.
She said: “They said that there might be a slight acidity problem but it was perfectly safe to drink. They said that if it tasted funny we should just boil it or add orange juice, which I did.”
Doug Cross, an environmental scientist who specialises in water pollution, sid that the advice by the SWWA only made matters worse.
“The citrus acid would only have caused the aluminium to be absorbed more easily into the blood stream.” he said. “Similarly boiling the water would have concentrated the chemicals. People were given incredibly dangerous advice.”
Doug was living in Camelford at the time and on 7th July 1988, he noticed that the liquid in his morning cup tea turned into a revolting jelly. He called up the stairs to his wife, Carole, to tell her not to use the tap. However, after assurance from the SWWA that the water was safe, the pair felt relaxed enough for Carole to have a bath.
But after seeing the colour of the water, Doug knew that there should be reason for concern.
“As I looked down I could see that the water had turned a vivid blue colour so obviously something was wrong.”
After insisting their water was safe for over a fortnight, the water Authority placed an advert in the sports pages of a local paper explaining that the water had been polluted.
“When they finally admitted the truth I was so angry.” Carol said. “They told us the water was fine and we believed them. I had countless cups of tea, and several showers. I was on my knees with sickness and still they told me it had nothing to do with the water. I can’t describe how furious I was when they admitted the truth. It was an absolute disgrace.”
This was the largest water poisoning ever to be seen in the UK. Yet, very little was done to help residents.
The aftermath left for these residents have been catastrophic. 25 years on, many are facing health issues.
Over the last 20 years, Carol Wyatt suffered from stomach and joint pains, memory loss and confusion.
“Last year I suffered a seizure, similar to a stroke, which very nearly killed me and I am now confined to a wheelchair.” she said “The doctors told me I nearly died. My joints are now so bad I can’t walk but I’m 52, not 80. How can this be normal?”
Sarah Shepherd, who was 14 at the time, became incredibly ill from the water. She even started to fall asleep in school.
“The teacher told me off for staying out late but in fact I’d been in bed, too ill to move.”, she said.
Now, at 33 years old, Sarah has suffered from colitis, a painful bowel disease, and anaemia.
“I’m convinced it’s because of the poisoned water I drank in Cornwall.” Sarah has now been told by doctors that the only way they can help her anaemia is to perform a hysterectomy.
“It’s a huge thing to come to terms with but I’m tired of not being able to play with my children because I feel so wiped out, so I’ve agreed to have the op.”
“It’s hard not to feel anger and revulsion towards the authorities who let us believe the water was safe to drink.” she said.
Some cases have been fatal.
In 2004, Doug’s wife, Carole Cross, died at just 59 years old from a rare form of Alzheimers. She had no neurological illness which would lead to this condition. Her post mortem revealed that she had 21 more micrograms of aluminium per gram of brain tissue than normal which has led experts to believe the water caused her illness.
Dr David Wilkinson, a consultant in old age psychiatry at Moorgreen Hospital Southampton, dismissed these claims and said that “no causal link has actually been demonstrated” between aluminium and Alzheimer’s Disease.
However, Dr Chris Exley, a reader in bio-inorganic chemistry at Keele University and an expert in aluminium who helped carry out the post mortem on Carol Cross’s brain, said that the aluminium was a factor in her death.
“These people were poisoned, there is no question of that,” he said. “As a scientist I would like to be able to give them definite answers on how this poison will affect them but I can’t do that because the research has never been done.”
The research needed as proof has never been done because, despite experts volunteering their services, the government has never made the funding available.
In fact, many believe that the Tory government and water authority intentionally kept quiet about the water because they wanted to privatize the industry. The scandal of polluted water would have jeopardized these plans.
Lord Paul Tyler was a liberal Democrat at the time of the incident.
“That failure was not a simple mistake but a deliberate political decision,” he said. “We know that the government was only too well aware of the likely impact of the sell-off if the full health risks were revealed.”
After the water authority was finally prosecuted, the were fined £10,000 which equates to just 50p per person affected by the water.
Some victims demanded compensation and the company paid out £400,000 between 148 families, although many feel like this still is not enough for the damage caused.
More than this, officials and experts continue to turn a blind eye on the lifelong effects that have been caused by the polluted water over 30 years ago.
“If there was a cover up, people should be made accountable for it.” Sarah Shepherd said. “How else are we going to make sure that this never happens again?”
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