Scottish Water engineers have restored water supply to thousands of properties affected in rural Aberdeenshire and Perthshire where service was impacted by Storm Arwen.

Fallen trees and debris damaged equipment and disrupted power supplies,

with generators widely deployed to maintain and restore service

The extreme weather has impacted power supplies across the country, with challenging conditions in some places which have caused delays and difficulty accessing some areas.

Local teams remain on standby in affected areas across the north-east and Tayside to respond to any isolated issues such as airlocks which may continue to affect pockets of customers following the recovery of local water networks.

Scottish Water is still operating with generator power at a number of sites - generators are continuing to support the operation of five Water Treatment Works across Scotland where the normal power supply is still to be restored and at seven pumping stations across the north-east.

Scottish Water is liaising closely with SSEN to understand expected restoration times and manage the return of these sites to normal operation.

Since the peak of the storm on Friday night, engineers have restored supplies to over 18,000 homes and businesses that were initially without water across Aberdeenshire, Moray, Angus, Perthshire, Stirlingshire, the Borders and Dumfries & Galloway.

Ahead of the storm hitting, the power supply for 43 Water Treatment works (WTW) was supplemented with generators on a precautionary basis. Generators were used at a further 15 sites as the full impact of the storm on the electricity network became clear, with supply for around 1.5 million customers being maintained in this way at the peak of disruption.

A fleet of 22 road tankers operated across the affected regions to sustain water supplies wherever possible and support faster recovery of affected water networks.

Bottled water was also distributed to the most affected customers and communities, with direct delivery to care homes and priority service customers, as well as community collection points and SSEN welfare units. The customer support operation so far has involved:

Distribution of 120 pallets of water, equivalent to 128,000 litres of water to 25 community drop offs and 26 welfare hubs

Over 500 door-to-door deliveries

Over 1,000 calls to customers to check on their welfare and understand their needs

Kes Juskowiak, Water Operations General Manager for Scottish Water, said:

“The impacts of Storm Arwen on our infrastructure were very significant and widespread, particularly in the loss of normal power supply to a substantial number of our sites across Scotland. That was reflected in our preparations last week and in the scale of our response.

“The biggest impact has been on our customers in the most affected communities, who have had to contend with disruption to their essential services over several days during challenging weather conditions. We are enormously grateful for their patience and support, as well as that of our emergency response partners.