Water firm must apologise to town

[DOUBLE A]

Link here
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/gla ... 026934.stm

[Kintyre Forum News]

Official press release from 1st May 2009

NEWS RELEASE

Waterwatch tells Scottish Water to say sorry to the people of Campbeltown

Water industry watchdog issues damning verdict on nearly a decade of incompetence – and says, even now, the solutions to the town’s sewage nightmare may not be good enough.

The independent consumer watchdog for Scotland’s water industry says Scottish Water is guilty of mismanaging waste water treatment operations for the Argyll and Bute town of Campbeltown – and then systematically trying to rubbish the complaints of people affected when sewage overflowed.

Following the longest inquiry it has ever undertaken, Waterwatch Scotland is today demanding that Scottish Water issues a “full and unequivocal apology” for its failure to deal with problems at the Campbeltown water treatment works and for what it calls the “unacceptable” number and duration of sewage flooding incidents and spills that the town has had to endure.

Waterwatch Scotland’s report, sent today to Scottish Water, the environment watchdog SEPA, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland and Scottish Ministers, catalogues a series of failures dating back to the decision by Scottish Water’s predecessor, West of Scotland Water, to install an untried new system for Campbeltown in 2001 which almost immediately failed to cope.

Waterwatch Scotland Convener, Heather Brash, says the problems for local people caused by sewage flooding were repeatedly compounded by public bodies not dealing with their complaints properly:

“This is a saga of poor planning compounded by the failure of anyone to take responsibility, which has meant huge amounts of money have been spent without providing the community with what it needs.

“Local consumers have never been taken seriously by Scottish Water which tried to discredit the concerns of those who complained and sought to mislead the public. It is only in recent months, since the Chief Executives of both Scottish Water and SEPA have become directly involved, that there has been anything like a more robust approach to the problems at Campbeltown.

“From the day an untried system which wasn’t up to the job was chosen for Campbeltown nearly a decade ago, pretty well everything that has been done has made things worse rather than better – including adding new catchment areas to the waste water going into the already-failing treatment works. In fact, we found that, had it not been for the commitment and professionalism of the people operating the plant locally, the level of discharges of sewage into Campbeltown Loch would have been far greater.

“Scottish Water has never acknowledged that the treatment works are fundamentally flawed,” says Heather Brash. “We have little faith that the solutions they are now putting forward for the bolting-on of an additional treatment works will provide all the answers – not least because Scottish Water has failed throughout to develop the robust modelling and data gathering it needs to gauge the level of demand on its systems. Waterwatch Scotland is determined that the problems that the Campbeltown community have had to face over the years should become a thing of the past and will continue to work with all those involved to achieve that.”


Summary of Recommendations
Waterwatch Scotland (WWS) makes a series of eleven recommendations that include:
• Scottish Water (SW) should make a full unequivocal apology, the wording of which must be agreed with WWS before being widely disseminated;
• SW should consult widely on its current proposals for Campbeltown “timeously, comprehensively and transparently”;
• SW should engage with SEPA earlier, provide robust data and create an internal independent review mechanism for any issue where there has been a major complaint;
• SW should work more closely with local councils on surface water management;
• SW should review and improve its internal communications between different teams, including making sure its staff keep WWS informed of any developments during an investigation;
• SW should work with WWS on developing its consultation processes;
• Scottish Ministers need to ensure that legislation provides clarity over responsibilities for surface water management and gets all involved to work better together;
• Scottish Ministers should consider a review of planning processes to minimise confusion for the public and allow local planners to establish at an early stage whether proposals for key projects are likely to be fit for purpose.


Notes to Editors
For a copy of Waterwatch Scotland’s full report following its investigation of the complaint against Scottish Water at Campbeltown, or to seek an interview with Waterwatch Scotland, please contact John Macgill or Andrew Ritchie on 0131 556 0050 (including out of hours)

Waterwatch Scotland (WWS) is the national complaints handling authority for all domestic and non-domestic water customers and customer representative body for the water industry in Scotland.

WWS is independent of Scottish Water, government and other water/sewerage service providers. Its role is to:
• Investigate Complaints
• Represent Customers’ Views & Interests
• Influence Policy
• Inform & Advise

WWS’ responsibility for second-tier complaints handling means that WWS can take forward individual customer grievances against Scottish Water or other providers.

WWS can also make statutory recommendations to Scottish Ministers, Scottish Water and other service providers, and industry regulators: Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS).

From time to time, WWS receives complaints which are of such importance or have a public-interest impact beyond the specific complaint itself, that WWS will issue a formal report on the complaint and greater issues raised.

In addition to the making of such formal reports and the findings and recommendations made, a key role of WWS is to continue to work to ensure that such recommendations are adopted in the interest of customers to mitigate and prevent future occurrences.

Issued on behalf of Waterwatch Scotland, Corporate Office, Forrester Lodge, Inglewood, Alloa, FK10 2HU

[Kintyre Forum News]

Does anyone know exactly when this apology will come?

The full report can be found at

http://www.waterwatchscotland.org/wp-co ... final1.pdf

From the WaterWatch Scotland website
http://www.waterwatchscotland.org/news/ ... mpbeltown/

Waterwatch Scotland tells Scottish Water to say sorry to the people of Campbeltown - Friday, May 1st, 2009

Following the longest enquiry it has ever undertaken, Waterwatch Scotland is today demanding that Scottish Water issues a “full and unequivocal apology” for its failure to deal with problems at the Campbeltown water treatment works and for what it calls the “unacceptable” number and duration of sewage flooding incidents and spills that the town has had to endure.

The report, sent to Scottish Water, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland and Scottish Ministers, catalogues a series of failures dating back to the decision by Scottish Water’s predecessor, West of Scotland Water, to install an untried new system for Campbeltown in 2001 which almost immediately failed to cope.