Holyrood cuts water supply for servicing

MSPs and staff at the Scottish Parliament have been warned the water supply to large parts of the building will be off over the weekend while routine servicing is carried out.

But Holyrood bosses said the work is not linked to any fears over legionella.

Traces of the potentially fatal bug were found at the parliament in June 2008 and again in January 2009. Later, expensive automatic taps in some parts of the building were removed at a cost of £6000 in a bid to banish the bacteria.

A notice issued to building users said: “There will be no water supply in large parts of the parliament on Saturday evening and all day on Sunday.”

The disruption will include no toilet flushing or hand-wash facilities in the MSP block.

A spokeswoman said the water tanks were being given a routine clean out.

He said: “The cleaning of the water tanks is not because of any issues with Legionnaire’s Disease.

“We routinely test the water supply and the last checks were clear.”