Scottish Water appeal to check empty premises

Scottish Water is appealing to businesses and homeowners to check properties left empty during the festive holiday for burst or leaking pipes.

Scottish Water is continuing to tackle burst pipes and leaks across the country to help ensure normal water supplies are maintained. But we are asking customers to help by re-checking their private properties and land for bursts or leaks and having them repaired by a plumber as quickly as possible.

While leaks and bursts of this nature can affect the water resources in an area, it can also cause extensive damage to the property which can take months to fix and lead to a loss of use of the premises.

This appeal comes as Scottish Water is continuing to deploy all its resources in its call centre and in the field to deal with the effects of the extreme weather on the water infrastructure.

The water utility is keeping customers informed through their website and has deployed extra call centre staff to answer customer calls.

Since Christmas Eve our call centre took 26,000 calls to 12 noon on December 29 – four times the normal level. This included 7,000 in a 24 hour period.

About 75% of the calls are customers seeking advice on internal burst or frozen pipes in their homes or business.

Scottish Water is helping out by pointing customers towards www.scottishwater.co.uk/warmpipes<https://apps.scottishwater.co.uk/,host=101230dc3d5431aea948e2a533a0b53c6f656a53db4bc5f94e0767d1a0d0ca72,port=80,proto=http/warmpipes> where customers can watch videos that detail how to protect internal pipes and also how to locate their nearest plumber for internal repairs. Customers can also help by reporting visible bursts in the public network directly to our Customer Helpline on 0845 601 8855 or visit our website to report a leak.

Peter Farrer, Scottish Water’s Customer Service Delivery Director said:

“I would like to reassure customers that Scottish Water is doing everything possible to deal with the effects of the extreme weather. Our teams in the field are responding as quickly as possible to deal with burst and leaking pipes.

“We have drafted in extra resources into our contact centre and in the field, however the high level of calls has had an impact on our normally high levels of service. We want to apologise to customers who have had difficulty reaching us.

“While many of the calls to our contact centre in Edinburgh relate to frozen or burst pipes in the customers’ homes rather than on our public network we are

giving as much assistance as we can to customers and we are directing them to our website - www.scottishwater.co.uk/warmpipes<https://apps.scottishwater.co.uk/,host=ac9b4abca544eb038dc825c85bf88de5b6787d3e1dfd890cd73382e47da8b00a,port=80,proto=http/warmpipes> – to get useful information on how to deal with frozen or burst internal pipes, and how to locate your nearest plumber.

“We are calling on customers to check their holiday homes, garages, outbuildings, vacant commercial premises and any other unattended properties for internal leaking pipes.

“As well as the costs involved, people should consider the emotional impact and inconvenience burst pipes can cause.

“During the Big Freeze last January we came across hundreds of situations where people returning to properties, including businesses, village halls and holiday homes after the break, were met with scenes of devastation.

“Snow will hide some bursts and leaks on the public network so it’s vital that if customers notice any they report them to us as quickly as possible. We will respond to reported bursts or leaks and we will give priority to any that cause supply interruptions for customers or create a hazard for the public.”