THE quality of tap water in Scotland was at its highest ever level during the country’s first Covid-19 lockdown, Scottish Water has revealed.
The news comes as the public organisation releases its interim performance and prospects report covering the six-month period between 1 April 2020 and 30 September 2020.
The report detailed how responding to the global pandemic dominated Scottish Water’s activity during that time period. In May 2020, Project Scotland spoke with the organisation on how work had changed – boats and utilising WhatsApp were just some of the measures needed to keep the country’s water running.
Douglas Millican, Scottish Water’s chief executive, said, “The scale and impact of the Covid-19 pandemic have dominated our daily lives and are likely to continue doing so for some time to come. Our enduring priority has been to keep our country’s vital water and waste water services running smoothly in support of the national effort to protect public health.”
“Now, more than ever, we recognise the need to treat customers and communities with great kindness and support them as best as we possibly can.”
Mr Millican continued by saying that Scottish Water recognised the need to ensure high levels of customer experience and maintaining confidence throughout the challenging period. Tests carried out by the organisation between April and September revealed that the highest ever level of performance on water quality
He continued, “Now, more than ever, we recognise the need to treat customers and communities with great kindness and support them as best as we possibly can.”
The chief executive added that a focus will be put on ‘transforming’ the organisation to ensure it is fit to meet future challenges around climate change, maintaining and replacing ageing infrastructure, and reducing carbon emissions.