Scottish Water rapped after 12,000 left without supply

SCOTTISH Water has been heavily criticised by a regulator for failures in its handling of an incident that left 12,000 people without drinking water.

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) has made 17 recommendations for how Scottish Water can improve in the future.

Water leaving the Burncrooks Water Treatment Works near Bearsden, Glasgow, contained levels of aluminium 20 times the legal limit.

The incident in March meant consumers in Strathblane, Bearsden and parts of Milngavie were advised not to use tap water for drinking or cooking for 24 hours.

Following an investigation, the DWQR yesterday published a report that was critical of the operator for:

n The failure of Scottish Water to spot the potential for the incident to occur and use technical expertise to respond quickly and reduce its impact.

n Delays in notifying the affected consumers of the restrictions.

n Inability to take accurate measurements of aluminium levels at the treatment works and in the distribution system.

n Deficiencies in the validity of scientific evidence used to request a lifting of the restrictions.

n Lack of rigour in management of the incident.

A DWQR spokesman said: “This incident is extremely disappointing and should not have been allowed to occur.

“Although it is likely that any risk to health was minimal, a large number of people were greatly inconvenienced by the restrictions on water use that were put in place.

“We know Scottish Water can do much better than this and we are now looking to the company to make sure that it does whatever is necessary to prevent a repeat of this incident here or anywhere else in Scotland.

“We will be watching very closely to ensure this happens.”

The DWQR said it decided not to attempt to prosecute Scottish Water because of a lack of evidence that the water supplied was legally unfit for human consumption.

Aluminium sulphate is used in the treatment process to clarify drinking water.

Margaret McGuinness, Scottish Water’s public health manager, apologised for the inconvenience caused by the incident.

She added: “We take our responsibility to provide high-quality drinking water to our customers very seriously and, across Scotland, drinking water quality has never been higher, with 99.86 per cent of samples in 2010 to 2011 having met strict standards.

“Water quality incidents are rare but Scottish Water is committed to learning from the incident at Burncrooks.”

She said they had also carried out their own investigation into the incident, which had led to improved monitoring equipment being installed.

“We will study the DWQR’s report and recommendations and will do everything possible to reduce the risk of a similar event occurring at Burncrooks or elsewhere,” she added.