FEARS of contamination left over 3,000 soldiers and civilians without water supplies at Warminster barracks this week.

Routine tap water samples at the Army base on Saturday revealed the possibility of contamination and all drinking water was immediately cut off.

Signs were set up across the barracks warning soldiers and staff to boil all drinking water after fears the low levels of chlorine found in the samples might lead to an E.coli outbreak.

Water bosses called the contamination a 'freak occurrence' and after flushing out the reservoirs the Army base was given the all clear on Tuesday.

Spokesman for the base Major Roddy Mellotte said: "A routine test of the water supplied to Warminster Garrison established some samples had positive contamination in certain areas.

"With the low levels of chlorine found in the water one possible result is the growth of E.coli.

"But the reservoirs were flushed out and the camp was given a clean bill of health.

"Safety was the number one priority so signs were put up to let everyone know of the risk.

"Although most of the soldiers would have experienced similar water shortages on duty in areas such as Iraq, there are an awful lot of civilians and families based here.

"We have been told the possibility of E.coli was very slim, even for someone who was aged over 65 or for a pregnant woman.

"The barracks was not severely affected and everything carried on as normal."

The water shortage came during the hottest weekend of the year as temperatures in west Wiltshire soared over 20 degrees centigrade on Sunday afternoon.

Over 3,000 soldiers and civilians use the base every day and were forced to boil water or buy bottled water from Warminster town centre.

No-one is believed to have fallen ill during the contamination scare. The water shortage did not affect Warminster as supplies to the barracks come from a different reservoir.

Yorkshire Water has been supplying the base for only four months.

A spokesman for the company said: "All our reservoir tests show levels of chlorine are fine so this may have occurred during delivery.

"It could have been a rough sample or it is likely to be a freak occurrence and we are working with the MoD to solve this problem."

The Ministry of Defence previously supplied water to Warminster barracks but contracted the work to Yorkshire Water four months ago.