Scottish Water issues compensation reminder to Berwickshire customers
Scottish Water is calling on customers in Berwickshire who were affected by the disruption to their water supplies last month to contact the utility about compensation.
A fault at Rawburn Water Treatment Works (WTW) near Duns on August 26 affected normal supplies to up to 6,000 properties across many parts of Berwickshire, causing loss of water supply, low pressure or intermittent supply and significant disruption and inconvenience.
Earlier this month, Scottish Water wrote a letter of apology to all affected properties outlining the compensation they might be entitled to.
However, so far, claims for compensation from less than a quarter of the affected properties have been received.
Kevin Roy, Scottish Water’s general manager for customer excellence and resilience, said: “We’ve informed all affected customers of the compensation they might be entitled to, and how they can submit a claim to us.
“We are asking those who have yet to check the letter to get in touch with us and submit their claim as soon as possible.
“This will enable us to process their claim and ensure those affected are properly compensated for the inconvenience caused.”
The areas affected by the loss of water included Duns, Eccles, Coldingham, Chirnside, Paxton, Coldstream, Burnmouth, Lamberton, Drone Hill, Birgham, Whitsome, Swinton and Leitholm.
During the incident, the company implemented a large-scale tankering operation across the affected area. There were more than 20 tankers operating 24 hours a day to help refill pipes and tanks in the network with over 12 million litres of water.
This significantly reduced the length of time customers were without their normal supply.
The utility also brought in specialised equipment such as pumps, control systems, pipes and fittings from other parts of the country, and staff worked tirelessly to minimise the inconvenience to affected properties.
This included deploying more than 100 additional workers to support bottled water provision and the distribution of 210 pallets of water to customers – about 100,800 bottles or 201,600 litres of water – while customers were without their normal supplies.
The company made 1,600 doorstep deliveries and 15 bottled water collection points were set up.