Ugh! Whatever the taste, it’s certainly not whisky...This stuff is nasty
A village where whisky is on tap? As our reporter found out, it’s a scoop, reprinted here, that was simply too good to be true
“Cardross’s water tastes like whisky.” I was told. Though I’m not a toper, I hastened down to sample it!
The hill reservoir, it seems, isn’t playing the game thanks to the recent drought and additional supplies are brought from Renton in huge casks.
In the middle of the village, a wee laddie was filling a pail at one of the barrels when I arrived.
“What does that water taste like,” I asked him. He grinned broadly. “Whisky!” was the reply.
On this final assurance, I had some. Ugh! Whatever the taste was, it certainly wasn’t whisky! It was too nasty for language.
One man afterwards sympathised with me. “It doesn’t even taste like bad whisky,” he remarked rather wistfully.
He told the previous afternoon he arrived home, hungry and ready for his tea. His wife took the teapot from the hob and poured him out a cup.
He raised it to his lips and – splutter! – “What the blankety blank’s this?” he cried.
His wife ultimately assured him that she hadn’t been trying to get rid of him. It was the barrel water.
So the tea was flung out the back door with a colourful farewell. I was offered a cup of tea but most firmly declined. I had more than enough with my own solitary experiment to risk sampling more.
Water for domestic purposes in Cardross is only available from seven o’clock until nine in the morning and again from seven till nine in the evening. Throughout the day, you’ve got to trek to the casks which are placed at various parts of the village.
Along came suggestions for a scheme under which Cardross could get its supply from Dumbarton burgh. But it was to cost roughly £7,000. That was a real snag. At the moment the ratepayers have enough on hand. Under a debt incurred through a 30-year loan, they are paying back about £700 a year for 18 years!
And eventually...a resolution was sent to the County Council, deploring the state of the water supply, and urging them to take steps to rectify it immediately.