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1. Foreword
I am pleased to report that in 2007, the overall level of compliance of Scottish drinking water with the regulatory standards was higher than ever. Consumers can therefore be confident that public drinking water supplies in Scotland are of the highest quality and Scottish Water can justifiably be proud of what it has achieved since it was formed six years ago.
However, there is no room for complacency. Against this encouraging background, work is still required to further improve compliance with the trihalomethane and microbiological standards. Compliance with the manganese standard also requires further work. Manganese causes discoloured water, which can give rise to "dirty" water complaints from consumers. This is an area that I highlighted in last years annual report, and while it is encouraging that there were fewer customer contacts about dirty water in 2007, it is disappointing that compliance with the manganese standard itself did not improve.
Scottish Water continues to invest considerable resources in improving drinking water quality, and that investment appears to be delivering benefits. However, improvements to drinking water assets need to be sustained, so looking forward, it is important that Scottish Water ensures appropriate resources are directed towards maintaining its assets, to ensure that they are able to perform effectively for many years to come.
The low point of 2007 occurred in August when a number of Scottish treatment works failed to adequately treat raw water that was deteriorating in quality due to heavy rainfall. Communities such as Ullapool, Langholm, Tomintoul and North Ronaldsay all faced the inconvenience of prolonged, and in some cases repeated, boil water notices following the detection of Cryptosporidium in the supply. I firmly believe that such situations are unacceptable in 21st century Scotland. This view is shared by Consultants in Public Health Medicine and local authority Environmental Health Officers who have expressed their concerns to me. The Summer of 2007 was exceptionally wet but high rainfall events are not unusual in Scotland, and treatment facilities must be sufficiently robust to deal with changes in raw water quality.
Plans are being developed to improve treatment at the above sites, and in most cases temporary treatment has been put in place until a long term solution can be delivered. I am continually frustrated however by the time taken to deliver such much needed improvements and look to Scottish Water to find a way within the investment process to progress these projects with the urgency they demand.
Scottish Water has a large volume of water quality data at its fingertips, together with the expertise to understand and interpret it. I would like to see Scottish Water taking more responsibility for identifying and managing risk in its supply systems so that timely corrective action can be taken to ensure that good safe drinking water is consistently supplied to consumers. This is fundamental to the Drinking Water Safety Plan approach to safeguarding water systems promoted by the World Health Organisation and I am encouraged that Scottish Water has embarked on production of these plans with enthusiasm and dedication.
For a number of years I have been expressing concern over a lack of robustness in the on-site water quality instrumentation and telemetry systems that alert Scottish Water to problems at water treatment works. I was therefore keeping a close eye on this during 2007 and am pleased to report that Scottish Water is well advanced with a programme of testing and upgrading its monitoring systems. I am increasingly satisfied that Scottish Water is responding appropriately to water quality alarms, which means that potentially difficult situations are being resolved before public health is put at risk. While the number of occasions that the system did not work in 2007 was still unacceptably high, I am confident that steps are finally being taken in the right direction.
In my role as Regulator, it is important that I monitor all aspects of Scottish Water's activities that could affect drinking water quality. With this in mind, I introduced two new types of audits in 2007 - (i) work on distribution systems; and (ii) handling of consumer contacts relating to water quality. Both of these audits were useful in identifying areas for improvement and I am working with Scottish Water to ensure that these are adequately addressed. I propose to repeat these audits in order to confirm that the necessary improvements have been made.
I am pleased that the number of consumer contacts relating to concerns about drinking water quality reduced in 2007. I hope that this is a genuine trend that will continue in 2008. I am aware however, of a number of local issues where communities have very genuine concerns over the appearance and/or taste of their drinking water. Improvements in regulatory compliance count for nothing if consumers find the aesthetic characteristics of their water unacceptable and refuse to drink it.
Consumer acceptance and trust in drinking water supplies is achieved where Scottish Water consistently delivers a high quality product. Lack of acceptance and trust often relates to the level of chlorine in the supply. Chlorine in various forms is used throughout the world as it is one of the most effective means of disinfecting water supplies and providing lasting protection throughout the distribution system. Scottish Water must ensure that when it is disinfecting its supplies that this is carried out in a way that is acceptable to consumers, while at the same time safeguarding public health.
Finally, in addition to regulating public supplies, I have a role overseeing the quality of the private supplies in Scotland. About 3% of Scotland's population and countless visitors rely on private water supplies for their drinking water. Responsibility for regulating these supplies rests directly with local authorities, and they have been tasked with risk assessing all private supplies that (a) provide more than 10 cubic metres of water per day, (b) serve more than 50 people, or (c) regardless of the volume supplied or the number of persons served are used as part of a commercial or public activity. I believe that some of these supplies have the potential to present a considerable risk to public health and that it is vital that the work to assess them under the Private Water Supplies (Scotland) Regulations 2006 is carried out as quickly as possible. This will enable the person that is responsible for these supplies to be fully aware of the risks and to take the appropriate action. Scottish Ministers have set up a grant scheme to assist with improvements to private water supplies.
Colin McLaren
Drinking Water Quality Regulator
August 2008
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