100 FEWER BURSTS - NEW NORTH WATER MAINS STOP THE POPS

24th May 2009

Scottish Water today (25 May 09) revealed figures showing that its major investment in new water mains across the Highlands and Islands has paid dividends, with 106 fewer burst pipes in the past year.

During 2008/09 Scottish Water dealt with 1,397 burst water mains in the Highland and Western Isles local authority areas, a seven per cent drop from 1,503 the previous year (07/08).

Over the last year Scottish Water has replaced 61,509 metres of water mains in Highland and the Western Isles, having renewed 72,100 metres the year before.

Sheila Campbell-Lloyd, Scottish Water's Regional Manager for Highland and the Western Isles, said: "These figures show that we are delivering real improvements for our customers, improving the reliability of their supplies. Across Scotland we inherited a huge network of over 47,000 kilometres of water mains, much of which went in the ground half a century ago. But we are renewing it at a record rate, targeting our funds in the Highlands and Islands where they're most needed, from remote and rural communities to Inverness city centre. And by running our service efficiently we are able to keep the average water bill below £1 a day."

Renewing water mains to reduce bursts has numerous benefits:

- Fewer supply interruptions for customers.
- Less high quality drinking water lost from the system.
- Better use of staff time and resources.

During 2008/09 water mains renewal took place at numerous locations in the Highlands and Islands, including:

2,452 metres in the Dornoch area
320 metres in the Munlochy area
2,929 metres in the Cnoc Dubh area of Caithness
6,565 metres in the Bonar Bridge/Spinningdale area
26,000 metres in the Balmacara area
16,000 metres in the Aultbea area
4,417 metres in the Greenbrae area of the Black Isle
1,370 metres in North Uist
1,456 metres in South Uist

Other water mains renewal projects are ongoing as part of Scottish Water's 2010 Vision for the Highlands and Vision for the Western Isles. People can keep up to date by visiting www.scottishwater.co.uk/vision2010