The Scottish Government

Scotland's Water

The Scottish Executive has reaffirmed its commitment to a £1.8bn investment programme over the next four years in water infrastructure that is designed to reverse decades of under-investment.

This comes at a time when the water industry and the quality of the water supply is under increased scrutiny following recent water alerts in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The money is being spent on new water treatment and sewage works to ensure the public has clean and safe water.

To obtain the maximum benefit from this investment in infrastructure by the water industry it is important that property owners make sure that plumbing systems within their properties do not contaminate the water supply. The reduction and removal of lead plumbing poses a special challenge, one that is heightened by tougher European targets.

The Executive continues to provide significant levels of funding to assist in the removal of lead pipes from homes across the country, a programme that has been in place for nearly 20 years.

The Executive has also put in place stringent regulations requiring the Scottish Water to improve continuously the quality of supply to its customers. Chemical treatment in many areas already reduces the ability of the water to dissolve lead from the lead plumbing that is still present in thousands of homes across the country. This chemical treatment will be extended to many more areas by the end of 2002.

Earlier this year, the Executive consulted widely on new regulations ('Water Supplies in Public Buildings' March 2002) that will seek to greatly reduce the risk of lead plumbing contaminating water supplies in public buildings. This is necessary to meet the obligations in the revised European Directive (98/83/EC).

The first stage of consultation has now been completed. The responses to the consultation points identified in the document will assist in the finalisation of the Executive's policy on drinking water supplies in public buildings and the preparation of regulations governing such supplies.

Lead contamination continues to pose a problem, albeit one that has seen a significant reduction in recent years. The Executive remains confident that Scotland will meet the requirements of the European directive coming into effect in December 2003. Beyond that, efforts will continue to ensure Scotland's water meets the tougher limits set for 2013.