MALVERN Hills District Council is to look at providing online information on the state of springs and wells around the hills, following a Malvern Gazette campaign.

The campaign was started in spring last year following news that all 12 of the main springs around the hills were suffering from bacterial contamination at the same time.

The major water sources around the hills are checked quarterly, when samples are taken and analysed to detect the presence of bacteria.

The campaign called for information about the springs to be available on the internet, not just posted on notices at the water sources themselves.

Ivor Pumfrey, head of community services at Malvern Hills District Council, said: “The water coming out of the spouts in Malvern is – as it always has been – untreated and of variable microbiological quality.

"This poses a potential risk to health and therefore our advice is, and has been for many years, to boil the water before drinking it or bathing with it.

"Notices to this effect have been erected over the years but have frequently been defaced or removed, but we do intend to install fresh signs in order to remind residents about the quality of the water.

"We also appreciate that some online information may be useful to people and will look into a web page on the quality of the water alongside warnings about the potential dangers and risks.”

In the most recent round of tests, carried out towards the end of last year, Earl Beauchamp's Fountain in Cowleigh Road, Hay Slad on West Malvern Road, and the Lower Wyche Spout, off Old Wyche Road, failed bacteriological tests.

However, Malvinha, the water feature at Belle Vue Island in the town centre, and St Ann’s Wells, probably the most famous water source on the hills, were declared free from contamination.

The contamination is caused by coliform bacteria from animal droppings left by rabbits and livestock, and it comes and goes according to weather conditions and other environmental factors.