Scottish Water to investigate Blair Atholl supply problems

Scottish Water has insisted its response to the water crisis that hit Blair Atholl during the big freeze was “effective,” but said it will “thoroughly investigate” if it was at fault for the initial problems.

Chief executive Richard Ackroyd defended the organisation after the village was hit by water shortages for almost a fortnight due to frozen pipes.

Dozens of residents accused Scottish Water of “inaction” between Christmas and January 7 as they relied on bottled water delivered by the company.

Many households are served by private supplies for which the utility firm is not responsible, but there were suggestions that work to relay pipes in 2007 had caused the failure.

Mr Ackroyd said, “We did our utmost to resolve these issues as swiftly as possible and, I believe, were effective in doing so.”

Mr Ackroyd said he has no evidence that pipes were laid at too shallow a depth in 2007.

He said, “We will review the records of what was done in 2007 together with reviewing the situation as found by our staff and contractors when they excavated to unfreeze the pipes recently.”

Photo used under Creative Commons licence courtesy of Flickr user Cha gi Jos.