It was forced to issue a boil water alert when a reservoir with cryptosporidium, a parasite that causes diarrhea, was discovered in May, sickening people in the Brixham region.
For eight weeks, about 17,000 households were instructed to boil their drinking water under the warning.
On Thursday morning, South West Water announced that in order to restore customer supply, it would need to replace a portion of the 30-kilometer grid and clean and flush its water network 27 times.
According to the corporation, employees worked “24 hours a day” and added ultraviolet treatment units and other water treatment techniques to the network.
Running locations for clients to purchase bottled water added to the costs.
However, if government compensation plans had been implemented at the time, the price might have been higher.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed’s proposed changes call for water providers to compensate homes when boil water notices are issued.
Mr. Reed will confer on increasing compensation and is aiming to more than quadruple compensation amounts.
