Strathmore Spring Water in Forfar mounted a Hogmanay emergency effort to help those without water many miles apart in Angus and Northern Ireland.
As criticism of Northern Ireland Water continues, the Angus firm was called on by the Scottish Government to send a second consignment of almost 120,000 litres of bottled water to Belfast to help ease the situation facing thousands of homes.
The company also found time to extend the hand of support to a group of residents near Forfar after reading in The Courier of problems they faced last week without running water or bottled emergency supplies.
The Ballindarg storage depot between Forfar and Glamis was again a hive of Hogmanay activity as the second shipment of Strathmore water for Northern Ireland was loaded on to the articulated trucks of Angus haulier David Murray.
Scottish Water organised for five lorry loads to be sent over on Hogmanay, followed by a further two loads on New Year”s Day. Scottish Water also said their own contingency supply of bottled water had been boosted by a third to nearly 400,000 litres, with a further 500,000 litres being held to be drawn down as required.
Strathmore Water production manager Bob Watson said the West High Street firm had again been ready to respond to the situation. He added that the company had also been happy to give water to householders in the Kirkbuddo area, whose plight the firm’s financial controller Elma Sim had read of.
Rural residents were without running water after a burst in the area and criticised Scottish Water for failing to provide bottled supplies despite the company arranging the Northern Irish shipment from the company just a few miles away.
“We managed to make contact with the residents and were happy to tell them to come out to the depot and collect whatever supply they needed to see them through,” said Mr Watson.National commitmentMeanwhile, finance secretary John Swinney and infrastructure Minister Keith Brown have said Scotland remains committed to helping its Northern Irish neighbours where possible.
“It has undoubtedly been an extremely busy period for Scottish Water, but the hard work and dedication of staff has been an impressive demonstration of public service,” said Mr Swinney.”Such public-spirited activity underlines the value of Scottish Water to Scotland as a great public company prepared to push beyondits defined responsibilities to get things done.”
Mr Brown said, “We are well aware of the effects of severe weather here in Scotland and are committed to helping our neighbours if at all possible… we are doing the right thing by despatching these extra shipments.”
Scottish Water”s customer service delivery director Peter Farrer said, “We have been working at full capacity for several days, and have deployed extra resources, to deal with the impact the extreme weather has had on our customers in Scotland. With so many people experiencing unprecedented problems with their water supply in Northern Ireland, we believe it is correct for us to respond to a request to assist in this extreme emergency.”