Winter News Update

Teams Ready to Respond Over Christmas Weekend

Our teams are ready to respond quickly to reports of water supply disruption over Christmas in the wake of a burst pipe surge due to freezing temperatures and rapid thaw. 
 
Customer Service General Manager Kevin Roy has led an incident command team over the past week to return service levels to normal. 
 
The focus has been on finding and shutting down any burst pipes and leaks which has led to the biggest additional demand on the water network for more than a decade. 

Nationwide, around 80 teams and 45 water tankers have been deployed to carry out fixes and maintain customer supplies. 

Kevin said: “This has been an exceptionally challenging period for everyone. Teams have worked around the clock on all fronts to get on top of the situation and return things to normal. 

“As we go into Christmas weekend and the festive holiday period, we want to assure customers and communities, that our focus remains on minimising any disruption caused by any interruption to their supply. 

“We are still seeing a high number of bursts on the network and additional demand remains challenging. We do not have any large-scale or prolonged outages and we are ready to respond and resolve issues to minimise disruption over the Christmas and New Year period.” 

Customer requests for support have understandably been very high and we remain ready to help if required. We are still seeing a high number of bursts on the network through our monitoring and reporting and additional demand remains significant. 

“We fully appreciate that no-one wants to experience disruption to their normal water supply at any time of year, least of all Christmas, and our teams will not let up over the festive period in their efforts to locate and repair bursts.” 

Kevin added: “Some bursts are very visible and in easy-to-access locations, while others may be unseen and require technical expertise to locate and repair. 

“We would again ask property owners, residents, keyholders and businesses to check their properties, including unoccupied buildings, for any sign at all of leaks or burst pipes.” 

Leaks can be reported on our website, where further winter advice on protecting pipes and property is available. 

If a leak is discovered within the boundary of a property, householders are advised to seek the services of a registered plumber via SNIPEF or Watersafe. 

Scottish Water’s Priority Services Register allows anyone with additional needs to receive support.