Yorkshire Water has been ordered to pay more than £23,000 after admitting supplying water unfit for human consumption to scores of homes in Bradford.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Yorkshire Water was flooded with complaints from householders in Denholme, Thornton and Pudsey who described their water as "muddy" and "milky grey".

Yesterday Yorkshire Water Services Ltd admitted five counts of supplying discoloured water to parts of Thornton and Denholme in February 1999.

And it asked for a further single count, arising from a similar case at Pudsey in May 1999, to be taken into consideration.

Gareth Patterson, prosecuting for the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI), said water at Thornton and Denholme was discoloured by sediment disturbed when the wrong outlet was shut during improvement work at the Thornton Moor reservoir tanks.

That resulted in 86 complaints, although the discoloured water could potentially have been supplied to 3,700 people.

Mr Patterson said David Schofield, then licensee of the New Inn, Denholme, described the water from his taps as "muddy". The court was told: "He couldn't use it for anything. It affected his business - they had to use bottled water behind the bar and operate a restricted menu.''

Although it was established the water posed no danger to health, customers would not have immediately known it was not harmful, he said.

Mr Patterson said the incident at Pudsey - caused by opening the wrong valve during pre-planned works at Owlcotes Reservoir - resulted in 51 complaints, but could have affected 5,150 people.

Charles Miskin, defending the firm, which supplies 4.5 million people, "unreservedly apologised for the poor quality of water that was delivered".

He said since the incidents substantial sums had been spent on improving the quality of water and supply system, including the replacement of 56km of mains to address the "underlying problem of sediment".

He said the Pudsey incident was due to human error on the part of an employee.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Norman Jones QC, fined the company £3,000 for each of the five counts and ordered it to pay costs of £8,261.

He said water companies were responsible for ensuring their supply was fit for human consumption.

But he said it would be unfair to consider Yorkshire Water a negligent or incompetent company.

Following the hearing Claire Jackson, deputy chief inspector for the DWI, said: "Since these incidents Yorkshire Water has worked very hard to get procedures and practises in place to make sure there is less risk of discoloured water.''

Councillor Juliette Kinsey (Conservative, Bingley Rural) said: "Drinking water is something we trust implicitly. For it not to be of drinkable quality was appalling and builds up mistrust for the future.

"I'm pleased to see action has been taken but a £15,000 fine is not much for a big company.''

Carol Schofield, who ran the New Inn at Denholme with husband David, said she was glad action had been taken, adding: "It was horrendous - we couldn't use the water at all and lost a lot of business.''