Camelford

The Camelford water pollution incident involved the accidental contamination of the drinking water supply to the town of Camelford, Cornwall, in July 1988. Twenty tonnes of aluminium sulphate was inadvertently added to the water supply, raising the concentration to 3,000 times the admissible level. As the aluminium sulphate broke down it produced several tonnes of sulphuric acid which "stripped a cocktail of chemicals from the pipe networks as well as lead and copper piping in people's homes." Many people who came into contact with the contaminated water experienced a range of short-term health effects, and many victims suffered long-term effects whose implications remained unclear as of 2012. There has been no rigorous examination or monitoring of the health of the victims since the incident, which is Britain's worst mass poisoning event. Inquests on people who died many years later found very high levels of aluminium in the brain. Dame Barbara Clayton led a Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution enquiry into the incident.Immediately after the contamination the authorities said that the water was safe to drink, possibly with juice to cover the unpleasant taste. In an inquest in 2012 into the death of one of the victims, the coroner stated that South West Water Authority had been "gambling with as many as 20,000 lives" when they failed to inform the public about the poisoning for 16 days, a delay he called unacceptable. In the aftermath of the contamination the public were reassured that there was no risk to health. There were allegations of a cover-up and West Somerset Coroner Michael Rose stated: "I found there was a deliberate policy to not advise the public of the true nature until some 16 days after the occurrence of the incident." Following an investigation by the government's Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, Michael Meacher, the former Environment Minister, claimed that "various associated bodies tried to bury the inquiry from the start." Meacher told one newspaper: "This has become a tug of war between the truth and an attempt to silence the truth."An April 2013 report by the Lowermoor subgroup of the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment concluded that exposure to the chemicals was unlikely to cause "delayed or persistent harm" and was also unlikely to cause future ill health. In September 2013 the government admitted that there had been a "manifest failure to give prompt appropriate advice and information to affected consumers" and offered an unreserved apology.

Camelford Rural District was a local government division of north Cornwall between 1894 and 1974. The district council offices were at Camelford, Cornwall, England, UK, latterly in the former grammar school. It was one of several rural districts in Cornwall which carried out some local government functions while those for Cornwall as a whole were the responsibility of the Cornwall County Council.

The North Cornwall Museum and Art Gallery is a privately owned local museum and art gallery in Camelford, north Cornwall, England, UK.The museum opened in 1973 in a building that was originally used for building coaches and wagons. The museum covers life in North Cornwall between 50 and 100 years ago, including cider making, dairy, farming, and wagons, with sections on the tools used by different types of traditional crafts and professions. There is also a Cornish and Devonshire earthenware collection. Sally Holden is the owner and manager of the museum which is also the tourist information centre for Camelford. The museum only opens from April to September each year.

Sir James Smith's School is a coeducational secondary school located in the town of Camelford, North Cornwall, England. The headteacher is Kristien Carrington.

Valley Truckle is a hamlet on the A39 road south of Camelford in Cornwall, England. Its name probably derives from a corruption of Cornish "Vellan draeth" (i.e. fulling mill). This was suggested by Charles Henderson.

Camelford Town Hall is a municipal building in the Market Place, Camelford, Cornwall, England. The town hall, which is currently used as a public library, is a Grade II listed building.

St Thomas of Canterbury's Church, Camelford is a church in the Church of England Diocese of Truro in Camelford, Cornwall. It is a chapel-of-ease in the parish of Lanteglos-by-Camelford.

St Julitta's Church, Lanteglos-by-Camelford is a Grade I listed parish church in the Church of England Diocese of Truro in Lanteglos-by-Camelford, Cornwall. (St Julitta's Church, St Juliot, is dedicated to the same local saint.)

Tregoodwell is a hamlet half a mile east of Camelford in Cornwall, England, UK. It is on the road towards Rough Tor.

The Lowermoor Water Treatment Works supplies drinking water to the north Cornwall water distribution network. Raw water is obtained from the Crowdy Reservoir, which is 3/4 mile to the north east, and which is filled predominantly by run-off and drainage from surrounding moorland. The works were constructed in 1973.At the time of the Camelford water pollution incident, water treatment was being carried out by South West Water.

Camelford Football Club is a football club based in Camelford, Cornwall, England. They are currently members of the South West Peninsula League Premier Division West and play at Trefrew Park.

Slaughterbridge (Cornish: Tre war Ponshal), Treague and Camelford Station (Cornish: Gorsav Reskammel) are three adjoining settlements in north Cornwall, England. They straddle the boundary of Forrabury and Minster and Lanteglos by Camelford civil parishes just over a mile (2 km) north-west of the market town of Camelford. The settlements are on the B3314 road from the A39 to Delabole (now part of a busy route from the A30 near Launceston to north Cornwall).