The consequence was as quick as it was deadly. As a toxic cocktail poured out of the taps of 20,000 homes, one of Britain’s worst mass poisonings was playing out in real time.
Residents living in Camelford, north Cornwall, reported a revolting black water coming from their taps and sticking to their skin – with one man describing how his hair was stuck together like glue after taking a bath.
But this was only the start. For thousands of locals were suddenly drinking and washing themselves with contaminated water after 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate were poured into the wrong tank at a nearby treatment plant.
Many frantically called the South West Water Authority (SWWA), describing symptoms of vomiting, rashes, mouth ulcers, skin burns, diarrhoea and aching joints. Their concerns were repeatedly dismissed.
It began with a confused relief delivery driver’s mistake on July 6 1988. But what has followed is nearly three decades of searching for answers and accountability amid death, disease and accusations of a huge cover-up.
The water company was accused of ‘gambling with as many as 20,000 lives’ after not informing the public about the poisoning for 16 days.
The most high-profile case involved Carole Cross, who lived in Camelford when the aluminium sulphate was added to the wrong tank at Lowermoor treatment works, unleashing the chemical into the town’s mains supply.
When Mrs Cross died aged 59 from a rare form of dementia in 2004, very high levels of aluminium were found in her brain. A coroner ruled that she was exposed to an ‘excessive amount’ of the chemical from the water and that while there was a ‘very real possibility’ it contributed to her death, there was ‘only a slight possibility’ it caused her death.
Some 37 years later, the Camelford scandal is still spoken about today and is at the centre of a BBC2 documentary, Poison Water, which will air at 9pm on Wednesday.
When Carole Cross (pictured) died aged 59 from a rare form of dementia in 2004, very high levels of aluminium were found in her brain
Her widower, environmental scientist Doug Cross (pictured) has long campaigned for justice
Richard Gibbons (pictured) asked his wife to have his brain tested because he believed the water poisoning affected him
The Lowermoor treatment works where 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate were poured into the wrong tank
‘It would become known as Britain’s biggest mass poisoning and has led to a decades-long search for truth, during which people’s health has suffered and accusations of a cover-up have refused to go away,’ a preview of the show says.
Family members of those affected have long campaigned for justice. Despite being inundated with nearly 1,000 complaints, SWWA insisted the water was safe and told customers to disguise the ‘foul’ taste by mixing it with orange juice.
The disaster began on July 6 1988 when driver John Stephens stepped in at the last minute to take over delivery of the aluminium sulphate to the Lowermoor plant, which supplied water to around 7,000 homes and businesses in and around Camelford.
Up against the clock, Stephens asked colleagues to phone ahead to say he would be running late but when he arrived at the plant, no one was there. At Mrs Cross’s inquest, Stephens said he was told to put the delivery ‘in a tank on the left’.
However, he was confused by the number of tanks and manhole covers and emptied the aluminium sulphate into the wrong one, sending contaminated water flushing through the main supply.
Soon, dozens of Camelford locals began calling SWWA with complaints about filthy water coming out of their taps, a burning sensation when drinking and the water clinging to their skin.
‘I’m calling to report an issue with our tap water. My daughter’s skin has come up with a rash and she’s in a lot of pain,’ one recorded call says.
Another local is heard saying: ‘My daughter has been vomiting all day, really don’t know what’s going on.’
A third says: ‘My whole mouth is covered in ulcers and I think it’s something to do with the water.’
Susan Jones, who was on duty at the SWWA communications centre when the calls started coming in, told Mrs Cross’s inquest: ‘I realised something was seriously wrong when I got a call from a woman whose husband had got out of the bath and his hair was sticking together like Super Glue and I knew it was extremely serious.
‘Calls were heightening in numbers. They were coming in at a fantastic rate, too fast to log them all. Water was sticking to people, curdling milk in tea and appearing absolutely black.’
Residents were told by SWWA that the water was safe to drink and use
Family members have vowed to fight for those who may have been affected by the poisioning
Admitting she felt her bosses were not listening to her, she added: ‘I felt I was banging my head against a brick wall.
‘Nobody seemed to be listening. I asked how I should answer people who wanted to know if it was safe and I was told it was safe to drink. I was told there was no health risk.’
The BBC doc will feature hard-hitting interviews from the Camelford residents whose lives were changed forever.
Among those to speak is the late Mrs Cross’s widower, Doug Cross, a leading environmental scientist who has long campaigned for justice.
‘I want those who were responsibly brought to justice, but when people try to talk about it they are silenced,’ Mr Cross says.
Mr Cross has previously spoken of his anger that SWWA took two weeks to confirm a major contamination incident.
An early sign of the poisoning was the fact that a significant number of animals – including fish and livestock – were poisoned as well as the horrific symptoms humans began to suffer with.
‘I could not believe that anybody would be so irresponsible as to allow that sort of accident to happen – with the damage we had seen to people and animals – and to keep it quiet for two weeks,’ Mr Cross said.
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
The BBC doc features residents in tears as they stand outside the Lowermoor plant
‘We have a right to be told what we are being exposed to. We have a right to protect our own health and these people took it away from us.’
Local resident Carol Wyatt, who was initially reluctant to do the BBC doc, said: ‘People died unnecessarily. Before I die I want this truth to come out.’
Meanwhile, the daughter of a man who lived in Camelford during the poisoning, said: ‘I want to speak up to be my dad’s voice, I’m doing it because dad can’t.’
As fears mounted over something clearly going wrong, Mr Cross began to collect evidence because he was qualified and knew what to do.
He explained: ‘It was my responsibility to the community to collect what evidence I could and til I can find other people to join in. Let’s get together to work out what the hell is happening.’
He added: ‘Within the community, they were really terrified because they didn’t know what had happened – and they could see whatever it was was serious.’
Mr Cross continued: ‘I went to the pet shop and Bill the owner was in tears, he said all my animals are dead. Then farming friends said that there is something going wrong. Sheep, cows, then pigs – everything that drank that water – it had infected them and some of them had died.
‘Then I started to ask around and people said ‘yes I had some of this stuff and it made me feel sick.’ These little anecdotes coming from here, there and everywhere.
‘If you see animals dying at the same time that people were ill you begin to get concerned.’
Among those to speak is the late Mrs Cross’s widower, Doug Cross (pictured), a leading environmental scientist who has long campaigned for justice
When his wife took a bath, a bar of soap immediately turned blue, signalling to Mr Cross that copper had infiltrated their water supply.
‘The soap is very alkaline and with copper it turns bright blue,’ he says.
‘But if the copper was now in our water, it must’ve been coming from the inside of our water pipes and the only way that could happen is if the pipes were being dissolved by something very acidic in the water supply itself. And that is when I started to get really concerned because I knew the chemistry.’
Despite the concerns, John Lewis, the district manager for SWWA, went on TV and said it was perfectly safe to drink and use the water.
Years on, many are convinced their loved-ones premature days were caused by the mass poisoning.
As well as Mrs Cross’s death, Richard Gibbons believed he was suffering from the effects of the contaminated water before he died aged 60 and asked his wife to have his brain examined.
In 2014, a coroner said his death was not caused by the water poisoning. However, Mr Gibbons, who lived in nearby Tintagel, was found to have four times the normal level of aluminium in his brain when he died.
The inquest heard how he was previously ‘fit and healthy’ but started deteriorating after the poisoning. He developed memory loss, ulcers, stomach pains, passed blood and had skin rashes.
By 2005, he was diagnosed with epilepsy and was having up to seven fits a day. A post-mortem concluded his cause of death to be aspiration of food due to epilepsy.
Although a link between epilepsy and the water poisoning could not be proven, experts said his brain had ‘unusually high’ levels of aluminium in his brain.
Diane Gibbons, who was seven at the time of the poisoning, says: ‘My dad knew his health was deteriorating. He knew he was poisoned and he wanted answers. He had some blood sent off to a lab testing for aluminium concentrate in the blood.
‘It was 20 times higher than normal and that was six weeks after the poisoning. What damage was done in that six weeks? Dad was told there was nothing wrong with you. This is proof it has happened.’
Diane Gibbons with her late father Richard. He believed his health had been compromised by the poisoning
The Camelford incident and the subsequent disclosure to the public came while Margaret Thatcher’s Government was planning to privatise the water industry, leading to accusations of a deliberate cover-up.
A leaked Government memo later revealed fears among SWWA bosses that a police probe could spook the stock market and damage their potential sale price.
Michael Howard, the then environmental minister, warned at the time: ‘I don’t think it’s something which need deter anyone who is contemplating investing in the shares of South West Water PLC.’
The World Health Organisation called for the local community to be monitored to see the impact of the poisoning, but no study ever took place.
Instead, a Government advisory group headed by Dame Barbara Clayton was set up. But her report concluded the incident presented no hazard to health and the symptoms were mild and short-lived – something locals disagree with.
Neil Ward, professor of analytical chemistry at Surrey University who took samples from the pigs, said: ‘We found those particular pigs, the aluminium levels of their bone tissue were astronomical.
‘We also found that there was some evidence of accumulated aluminium in the brain tissue which the government report said could not happen, that there was no way that aluminium could cross the body brain barrier. Using the pigs as an animal model we had clear evidence that yes it had.’
The SWWA was fined £10,000 with £25,000 in costs in 1991. And three years later, 148 victims were awarded civil damages totalling almost £400,000.
But while the families fought for justice, water company executives saw their salaries soar following the privatisations.
During the inquest of Mrs Cross, Coroner Michael Rose described the driver’s mix-up as a ‘mistake’, adding: ‘I don’t think that Mr Stephens should be vilified. He struck me as a conscientious man who tried to use his initiative and had acted responsibly.’
He described it as an ‘accident waiting to happen’, adding: ‘Clearly the safety devices to prevent this mistake causing further trouble were not in place.’
Mr Rose criticised the water authority for taking 16 days to inform the public – describing it as ‘unacceptable’.
Summarising the incident, they said: ‘What… transpired was that the 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate was put in the contact tank, and there it would be immediately released in the water going down to the reservoir and thence on to the town of Camelford.’
Poison Water, Wednesday 26th November at 9pm on BBC Two and iPlayer
