One privately-owned water company has been fined almost £2m after it was found that its water supply was infested with the dangerous parasite cryptosporidium. The outbreak affected Brixham in Devon. The private utility firm was sentenced to this record fine for a drinking water offence at Exeter Magistrates’ Court. The prosecution was brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI). The privately-owned firm plead guilty to supplying water unfit for human consumption at an earlier hearing, offering a “full and unreserved apology”. Four people were hospitalised out of an astonishing 140 confirmed cases of sickness and diarrhoea during the 54-day incident around…