Camelford poisoning

Below is my first draft on the Camelford poisoning story I intend to run as one of my secondary stories. This is another topical local story in which the local people are loosing faith in Cornwall County Council and South West Water for not telling them the full consequences of drinking the contaminated water.  Reporting this story is important for my target audience because this will effect those that live in the local area, and those that know people who live in the local area. Both parties will be interested in finding out the full report. In terms of specifically representing my target audience I intend to interview young Cornish people about their opinion concerning their views on the topic along with a local environment agency worker.

RECENTLY the Camelford water contamination, which happened in 1998, might have claimed another life.

Camelford's drinking water was poisoned on 6 July 1988, when a relief delivery driver mistakenly tipped 20 tonnes of aluminium sulphate into the wrong tank at Lowermoor treatment works and the chemical, which is used to treat Cloudy Water, went straight into the town's mains supply.

Despite being inundated with nearly 1,000 complaints, the then South West Water Authority (SWWA) insisted the water was safe to drink and advised customers to disguise the "foul" taste by mixing it with orange juice to make it more palatable. Shortly after the incident, people in the area began reporting a range of health issues, including stomach cramps, rashes, diarrhoea, mouth ulcers and aching joints. Some residents even said their hair turned green from copper residues.

A woman has passed recently and post-mortem tests revealed very high levels of aluminium in her brain, levels described at the inquest by expert Professor Chris Exley from Keele University as "beyond belief”. “The water authority responsible for the UK's worst mass water poisoning was "gambling with as many as 20,000 lives", Mr Rose, a coroner, commented.

Recording a narrative verdict, the West Somerset coroner said she had been exposed to "an excessive amount" of aluminium in the contaminated water. While there was a "very real possibility" the ingestion of aluminium contributed to her death, he said there was "only a slight possibility" it caused her death. Mr Rose went on to say that even 24 years later people who lived in Camelford at the time of the poisoning should drink a litre of mineral water with high silicon content every day as this could help flush aluminium from their bodies.

Following the verdict, South West Water, the current body which took over in 1989 when the industry was privatised, said rigorous regulation and heavy investment had "transformed" water treatment works. “Continual monitoring and quality alarm systems now provide real time information which can be acted upon within seconds to tackle any problem which might arise and if necessary shut down a works."

As a first draft I think this is starting to take shape because I have followed the basic rules of reporting (who, what, where, when and why) and have started to represent the needs of my target audience in terms of mode of address, language and interviewees. To improve this in my final draft I need to add in the local quotes and take representing photographs.