YORKSHIRE WATER has been fined £20,000 for supplying water which one customer described as looking like "Coca-Cola without the fizz."

The firm admitted three charges of supplying discoloured water and said the outbreak was partly triggered by the "inexplicable carelessness" of one employee.

The water was nearly 33 times murkier than the prescribed limits.

Magistrates in Harrogate also ordered the company to pay costs of £8,325 and said the incident in February last year was a "potentially serious situation."

Up to 1,000 homes in villages near Boroughbridge had to cope with dirty supplies for about 20 hours.

Thirty-five complaints were made by residents of Great Ouseburn, Little Ouseburn, Marton and Marton-cum-Grafton.

The incident happened when a message from a plant manager advising control room staff that he was about to begin bore hole tests in the area failed to get through.

Sediment from underground pipes then clogged up the water filtration system at Marton treatment works.

Michael Elliker, for Yorkshire Water, said problems could have been prevented if it was not for the "inexplicable carelessness" of a control room worker.

He said: "It was not unusual for alarms to be triggered in the course of such work and he believed everything was being handled.

The individual concerned was about to leave the company. No finger is pointed at him although it may well be that his keenness was reduced."

Mr Elliker said extra instructions and alarms had since been introduced to ensure that the situation would not be repeated.

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