Residents on Cambridge’s Marleigh development endure sixth day without drinking water

Residents living in a Cambridge area are enduring a sixth day without drinkable tap water after concerns about contamination.

People living on the Marleigh development were alerted last Thursday that their water supply “may be contaminated” by Independent Water Networks (IWN).

Residents were advised to use bottled water for everything other than flushing toilets.

Following early testing, the company said on Tuesday (23 January) that tap water could be used for everything other than drinking, giving to pets and cooking.

IWN said its engineers were on site collecting samples from “targeted locations” and “flushing water through the network”.

Bottled water is available at Marleigh Community Centre. IWN says it will continue to monitor the levels of bottled water stock and will be liaising with its emergency contractor, Water Direct, to deliver more if necessary.

Marleigh Primary Academy, which closed on Friday and again on Monday, reopened on Tuesday. In a letter to parents, interim headteacher Bridget Harrison said the school’s water system had been “drained, disinfected, refilled, and retested”. This resulted in the school’s interim water supply receiving approval from both the water network and public health teams.

IWNL says it is in “close discussions” with the UK Health Security Agency to discuss the results of samples from the development.

An IWN spokesperson said: “I’d like to thank you for your patience whilst we are still investigating the issue. We have had some initial sample results back and are waiting for some further detailed analysis before we issue any details.

“We are engaging with [the] UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) at all times to discuss the sample results. Engineers are on site today undertaking further sampling and flushing the water through the network.”