Northamptonshire has a problem. No, it’s not (just) chavs, homeless people or too many Polish people. It’s water. Normal tap water. What’s wrong with it? Cryptosporidium. (No, I didn’t just insult you…)

It’s a fairly common, naturally occurring organism which is found usually in drinking water. It’s passed through faeces from animals and is more likely to infect someone in the springtime, when manure and other animal waste gets washed into water sources by high levels of rainfall.

For those who don’t live around the UK, there’s an outbreak of this parasite in Northamptonshire – More specifically, Northampton and Daventry. It has made its way into the reservoirs which supply Anglian Water with their… well… water. It’s only a problem in certain places like in Kingsthorpe and the main town centre are where the most concentration of people hit are. Places like Hartwell and Semilong aren’t affected at all, the lucky souls.

So as a result, first it was petrol but now it’s people panic buying bottled water. I went in ASDA earlier today, and they had loads of palettes of them at the front door, with so many people wanting it I couldn’t actually get in. It’s silly. Just boil the water you get already. Silly UK general public. We’re rubbish in a crisis. When it snows, the whole country comes to a standstill.

Anyway, lucky primary schools have been closed as it’s the very young and the very old who are most at risk. NSB? We’re still open, but with all the cold taps with big warning labels and tape all around them. It’s set to stay for a while, so maybe we might.

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Tags: blog, Ian, May, place