PLANS to install pre-payment water meters at homes in Burnley and Pendle are meeting growing opposition.

Health chiefs, MPs and councillors claim the so-called smart-card system - which automatically disconnects customers who fall behind with payments - could cause outbreaks of food poisoning, dysentery and hepatitis.

But the water company says there is no risk to public health and no one will have pre-payment meters forced on them.

East Lancashire public health boss Dr Stephen Morton said incidence of disease was likely to rise if people were unable to wash themselves or prepare food properly, and that children, the elderly and sick would suffer most from lack of water.

And Councillor Alice Thornber, Burnley council's anti-poverty spokesperson, said: "These plans are a back-door method of disconnecting supplies and depriving hard-up families of current safeguards."

A spokesman for United Utilities admitted that those already struggling to pay water bills were the people most likely to have pre-payment meters installed, but added: "They are nothing more than another payment option for customers. Anyone who is not happy with the system can have it removed."

He said there was a seven-day delay between payment running out and disconnection, and customers who fell behind would be contacted so that problems could be sorted out before supply is cut off.

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