Scots private supplies could be linked to mains in light of water scarcity risk

The Scottish government has asked Scottish Water to investigate connecting customers on private water supplies, who are at risk of a loss of supply due to water scarcity, to the mains.

The Scottish Government has committed £20m of capital funding (£5m in each of the next four years) to the programme. This is in anticipation of prolonged dry conditions this summer. It has paired the initiative with an emergency scheme to provide bottled water to households affected in the event of shortages.

The idea will be piloted in Aberdeenshire first, with a view to rolling it out across Scotland. There are roughly 22,000 private water supplies in Scotland serving some 50,000 properties, typically in remote and rural locations beyond the reach of public water mains. Most supplies source their water from surface waters such as streams, rivers and lochs which are at risk of being impacted by dry, hot weather.

Recent water scarcity reports from SEPA show an ‘early warning’ across the south of east of Scotland as a result of the dry winter and spring. Conditions may worsen unless there is more than average rainfall in the coming weeks.