Camelford water poisoning - Authority 'gambled with lives' says coroner

The water authority responsible for the UK's worst mass water poisoning was "gambling with as many as 20,000 lives", a coroner has said.

West Somerset Coroner Michael Rose made his comments in a narrative verdict into the death of Carole Cross.

The 59-year-old lived in Camelford, Cornwall, when aluminium sulphate was added to the wrong treatment tank, polluting the drinking water in 1988. When she died in 2004, very high levels of aluminium were found in her brain.

Mr Rose criticised the then South West Water Authority for not informing the public about the poisoning for 16 days, describing the delay as "unacceptable". The coroner said Carole Cross had been exposed to the contaminated water and it may have contributed to - or caused - her death.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england- cornwall-17367243