DWQR Completes Investigation into Burncrooks Incident
The report considers the cause of the incident and how Scottish Water responded. Following its investigation, DWQR has made 17 recommendations to the company in addition to the 22 recommendations made by Scottish Water itself.
The incident occurred following a problem at Burncrooks Water Treatment Works, North of Bearsden, on the night of 17/18 March 2011. Water leaving the treatment works contained significantly higher aluminium concentrations than usual, over twenty times the legal standard. Nearly 12,000 consumers in Strathblane, Bearsden and parts of Milngavie were unable to use their tap water for drinking or cooking until Scottish Water lifted the restriction on the morning of 19 March.
The DWQR report is critical of Scottish Water on a number of aspects, including:
- The failure of Scottish Water to spot the potential for the incident to occur and use appropriate technical expertise to respond quickly and reduce its impact;
- Delays in notifying the affected consumers of the restrictions;
- A lack of capability for making accurate measurements of aluminium concentrations at the treatment works and in the distribution system;
- Deficiencies in the validity of scientific evidence used to request a lifting of the restrictions;
- Lack of rigour in a number of aspects of the management of the incident.
A DWQR spokesman said:
“This incident is extremely disappointing and should not have been allowed to occur. Although it is likely that any risk to health was minimal, a large number of people were greatly inconvenienced by the restrictions on water use that were put in place.
We know Scottish Water can do much better than this and we are now looking to the company to make sure that it does whatever is necessary to prevent a repeat of this incident here or anywhere else in Scotland. We will be watching very closely to ensure this happens. ”
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