More than 100,000 households will receive money after being told to boil their water for almost two weeks in June and July, after routine tests found traces of the cryptosporidium parasite at Pitsford Water Treatment Works.

An Anglian Water spokes man said: "Payments are equivalent to six weeks worth of water. It works out as two weeks for the inconvenience and a further month.

"It is worked out on people's individual bills – it seems a fair way to do it. If someone uses that much water they should be given the same gesture as they would have paid. We could have given a standard amount but we thought it wasn't fair.

"We recognise the inconvenience the boil notice caused and we are giving a goodwill payment."

The average level of money received by customers will be between £25 and £30.

Customers have started to receive letters, which are being sent out at the moment.

The payments will be distributed via different methods, with some customers receiving a cheque, while those who are in arrears may have their balance reduced.

Anglian Water customer Alys Meston, who lives in The Mounts, Northampton, said: "I'm pleased they have paid swiftly.

"It's six weeks worth of money but it only affected us for two weeks and it more than covers the few bottles of water we had to buy.

"The boil notice was annoying more than anything else but I'd rather they told us to boil our water while they investigate such scares and I feel safer knowing how frequently they test the water. I had no idea so many tests were carried out on a daily basis."

There were 22 cases of cryptosporidiosis confirmed by the Health Protection Agency as being linked to the parasite at Pitsford.