The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
The liquid of life
Fresh and clear tap water is something we take for granted in a country where rainfall is plentiful.
B u t t o p r o v i d e a n uninterrupted supply of greattasting, high quality water is no mean feat.
Water from our reservoirs is piped to one of 242 water treatment works dotted around the country before being sent along Scottish Water’s massive network of pipes – that stretch more than 30,000 miles across the length and breadth of Scotland – to business premises and homes. This is a process that happens every minute of the day, every day of the year.
Our drinking water is quality tested every two minutes on average, making it “the most tested water in the world”, according to Scottish Water’s chief scientist Elise Cartmell. And it is the highest quality it has ever been, with 99.91% of tests at customers’ taps complying with strict regulatory standards.
As one of Scotland’s biggest businesses, Scottish Water has an army of employees playing a part in providing water to its five million customers.
One important member of the team is Inverness-based Neil Brennan. As a water operations manager for the north, he has 109 water treatment works under his supervision – almost half of the country’s total number.
Neil covers a huge area that takes in Nairn, Aviemore, Cairngorms, Skye and Mull. And he is passionate about helping to deliver 1.3 billion litres of world class water to customers across Scotland every day.
He said of his role: “My team and I are split across nine areas. Our responsibility is to ensure the water quality, and quantity, for our customers. As water operations manager, I am also responsible for the health and safety of my team of people working on the range of Scottish Water sites across Scotland.”
Across the north area, our water comes from a range of places, but the majority is sourced from reservoirs and lochs, like Loch Ashie and Loch Duntelchaig that serve Inverness.
Groundwater also comes from boreholes and springs before going through a rigorous treatment process at one of the north’s 109 water treatment works, which makes the water clean and safe to drink. After this it travels along a network of underground pipes before reaching our taps.
Of course, providing high quality drinking water doesn’t happen by magic. Behind the scenes, a huge round-theclock monitoring, testing and sampling operation is going on in both Scottish Water’s laboratories in Edinburgh and Inverness.
Each day, hundreds of samples from reservoirs, treatment works and customers’ taps go through rigorous tests, to ensure the water we receive is the freshest, clearest and best-tasting it can be. Nothing is left to chance as a team of tasters check for any abnormal odours or flavours on their noses and tongues.
After the taste tests, samples go to a lab for further testing in a bid to detect any unwanted bacteria.
In addition to the testing by trained staff, technology is also used to continuously monitor the water flowing through the miles of pipes beneath us.
Neil explained how a variety of processes are in place to make sure the quality of our drinking water remains high.
He said: “The clarification stage gets rid of the colour and smaller particles and the filtration stage catches anything else. We also have several large membrane treatment plants that percolate water using membrane treatment technology, and a lot of small transportable treatment units too that we take direct to the sites.
“During the treatment process we want to remove any impurities, colour and bacteria. Some water that arrives at our water treatment works is absolutely crystal clear, and probably drinkable, but we will always treat it first, as a safety precaution.
“Another stage is disinfection to kill all bacteria and protect the water as it travels through our pipe network to our customers’ taps.
“We have very strict water quality guidelines and various checks in place, including inter-stage monitors that make sure everything is working as it should and will pick up anything when it isn’t. Behind all of that is the regular water sampling that goes on at all the water in the tanks, every works and a selection of properties throughout the network, every day to ensure that what we are providing continues to be of the highest quality.”
In a bid to highlight the vital role water plays in our lives, and the high quality, great tasting water available from the tap in Scotland, Scottish Water has launched a campaign called Your Water Your Life. The campaign, which was launched in June 2018, is encouraging more Scots to top up from the tap, something Neil and his colleagues across the business already do.
He added: “I am proud of what we do, and I want to let people know the lengths to which the staff here go to bring this high quality water to your taps.”