NO PADDLING!
As Scotland swelters in heatwave, killjoy water chiefs warn against using paddling pools to cool off (and hoses are out, too!)
SCOTS families have been urged to avoid using paddling pools as water bosses panic over dwindling stocks.
Scottish Water said yesterday the children’s pools take too much to fill and are draining reserves.
Households were also told not to use hose pipes in the garden or jet-washers to clean cars.
Water chiefs said taps should be turned off when brushing your teeth and washing machines and dishwashers should be used ‘only when fully loaded’.
But they also admitted yesterday that Scotland’s reservoirs were still at a healthy 74 per cent capacity.
Experts reiterated that there was no need to panic and that plenty could be done to replenish stocks.
And while temperatures today are expected to hit 30C (86F) in Dumfries and Galloway, forecasters have predicted rain for Sunday and Monday.
The guidance from Scottish Water says: ‘Use a watering can instead of a garden hose. Don’t use jet-washers, which use an average of 36 litres of water. Don’t use paddling pools, which use an average of 400 litres of water [if pools are used try quarter filling them and using the water to water your garden afterwards]. Turn the tap off when brushing teeth.’
The publicly-owned company said it was pumping an extra 200million litres [43,993,850 gallons] of water every day to keep up with demand, equivalent to 100 Olympic-sized pools.
Tankers are also being deployed in areas where demand is highest, including Tighnabruaich and Portavadie in Argyll, the Glendale, Waternish and Carbost areas of Skye, Fort Augustus in Inverness-shire, Dornoch in Sutherland and the East Neuk of Fife.
Additional river pumps and boreholes on the Moray coast, Arran and in the Fort William area will also help maintain normal supplies.
Scottish Water operations general manager Kes Juskowiak said: ‘These are very challenging conditions because of the warm, dry weather and the forecast for the coming days is for more of the same.
‘Challenging conditions’
Water levels in our reservoirs are at 74 per cent.
‘This is a fall from 77 per cent last week and from 90 per cent in late May.
‘Levels are below average for this time of year, but the main issue is demand for water from customers, which has increased considerably during the warm weather. It’s not isolated to one group but rather is the result of how we all use water in warm weather, particularly in the garden.
‘When garden water use increases dramatically, for things like sprinklers and paddling pools, that places considerable strain across our infrastructure to move the water as quickly as the customers need it.’
Lindsay Beevers, professor of water management at HeriotWatt University, said the guidance would be a disappointment for children, but was understandable.
She added: ‘It’s absolutely not a panic, there is plenty Scottish Water can do to get more water.
‘The long-term impact is that we await precipitation to refill reservoirs. We need to be thinking about conservation now so we don’t impact the future.’
On Sunday, demand for water in the East Neuk of Fife increased by one million litres [220,000 gallons] per day, compared with normal water usage levels at this time of year.
Overnight temperatures in Scotland have equalled daytime averages for the month.
The extreme heat is reminiscent of the last major hot spell, in July 2018, when soaring temperatures caused shortages on the Isle of Arran.
It has led experts to warn that Scotland could be facing future droughts.
Chris Spray, professor of water science at the University of Dundee, said: ‘Short term this is not a major problem. We are talking about the logistics of everyone having enough water and there are various things that can be done domestically which means you are not going to run out.
‘If this was to keep going for two or three weeks, that becomes more of a challenge, but I would not say there is an immediate risk of people running out of water.’
Scottish Tory environment spokesman Liam Kerr warned transporting water could also exacerbate climate change.
He said: ‘Excessive demand can have an impact on our environment as we both stretch the resources of Scottish Water and end up with more vehicles delivering water on our roads. I’d encourage people to act responsibly with their water use to guarantee that we see normal supplies easily maintained.’