Severn Trent Water claims it has learnt its lessons after the major failure in its testing centres led to thousands of homes being without water last year.

The water firm said it is also reviewing its procedures to check the levels of chlorine, as a Woodville man claims he can still smell the fluid in his supply.

This week Sarah Bentley, chief customer officer for Severn Trent Water, spoke to Radio Derby following the release of the report by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI).

She said: "I would like to apologise to all our customers as we have let them down. The levels were due to a failure at a chlorine dosing unit, which test the levels in the water. And since we have checked the equipment of 194 similar sites to make sure highly unusual occurrence doesn't happen again.

"There were a number of issue with technology but also there was opportunity for some of our people to notice some of the alerts that happen with these sites. We are checking equipment, and put in place additional training and reviewed our procedures to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Water being handed out and advice given by Severn Trent Water outside Sainsbury's

"This is an extremely unusual occurrence. I was talking to one of my colleagues who has been with Severn Trent for 43 years and he said he hadn't experienced this before.

"We are making checks and with training and taking on board the DWI recommendation and would just like to reassure customers that the water is safe."

Asked whether it was down to human error, she said "People have to do routine checks so opportunities were missed to make sure the checks were made with the site but it was a highly unusual equipment failure

At the time the firm compensated both homes and business for loss of water which affected 3,700 customers over 26 hours.

Radio Derby also heard from Woodville resident Nigel Thorneloe who said after 12 months he has still has problems with chlorine.

He said: "At the time the water was put back but over last 12 months it has been a very poor feed with the water itself. There is still a lot of chlorine in facility and we have resorted to using Brita kettles to purify the water before we drink.

"There is a quite a strong taste of chlorine every time you fill a glass up, and a slight cloudiness. This is a very distinctive smell of chlorine when you are running the tap. We have had samples taken from the house by Severn Trent Water and they say it is within their guidelines but I don't feel they have restored any confidence with the actual product they are pumping through the taps."

Mrs Bentley said: "I am very sorry to the customer and all our customers. If samples have been taken there are very strict guidelines from the DWI about acceptable levels of chlorine in water

"They definitely would be within tolerance ranges.

"We have learnt lessons across the patch. We have also reviewed procedures and there are lessons to be learned. We were able to get tens of thousands of bottles of water out but I agree we could get there faster and now have a much speedier arrangement with our partners."

As a report was published this week criticising Severn Trent Water over the high the amount of chlorine found in the water supply.

Let's take a look at what happened over that 10-day period in March last year.

Time Line

Timeline of water crisis

  1. March 11 - afternoon

    Chiefs at Severn Trent Water issued a warning to customers living in nearly 4,000 homes in the DE11, DE15, DE65, DE73 and LE65 postcode area, including Swadlincote, Castle Gresley, Church Gresley, Woodville and Hartshorne, not to use water as a precautionary measure pending an investigation into the levels of chlorine in the supply, which had been accidentally increased.

  2. March 11 - evening

    Supermarkets quickly began to sell out of bottled water and Severn Trent had to set up distribution points to give out clean bottled water throughout the areas affected.

    Over the next 10 days, nearly 50,000 litres of bottled water was distributed free of charge. but the situation causes major headaches for families across the area.

  3. March 12

    Parents of young children in the affected areas began to speak out about the problems they were facing citing health and feeding concerns.

    The original warning was followed up with a set of guidelines issued by Severn Trent, urging people not to drink, bathe in, flush or even boil the water and then attempt to drink it as a result of the chlorine release.

  4. March 13

    All customers could use their water, but were advised to run the tap until it was clear.

  5. March 14

    Severn Trent announced through Twitter that homeowners were to receive £50 compensation and business owners were to receive £100, in a scheme costing the company more than £185,000.

  6. March 24

    Severn Trent Water asked for any customers who still required compensation as a result of the chlorine levels being too high to get in touch if they had not done so already.