BLOG: Keeping Scotland's Water Flowing - John Griffen

Having worked in the water industry for four decades, I've seen enormous changes in how we operate, the technology we use and the expectations customers rightly have of us.  
  
For many people in Scotland, water is something we simply take for granted. We live in a country famous for its rainfall, and our lochs, rivers and reservoirs form an important part of our identity. But the reality is that climate change is creating challenges that many people don't see.  
  
Periods of warmer, drier weather are becoming more common and, when they do, demand for water rises significantly. People understandably use more water in their homes and gardens, businesses consume more, and demand can increase rapidly across many parts of the country.  
  
The result is significant pressure on our water networks and treatment systems. This summer, to help maintain supplies to customers, we deployed tankers across multiple supply zones throughout Scotland to move water to where it needed to be. That is a huge logistical operation - treatment operators, network teams, water response teams, field staff and partners all working together around the clock. 
 
While overall raw water resources remain available nationally, ensuring those resources are available in the right location and can be transferred efficiently across our networks is becoming an increasingly significant operational challenge. 

These pressures are not unique to Scotland. Across parts of England this summer, prolonged dry weather, reduced rainfall and exceptionally high demand have put water resources under significant strain, leading some water companies to introduce Temporary Use Bans on activities such as watering gardens and washing vehicles. 
 
Scotland has not faced those restrictions, but the pressures seen elsewhere this year offer a clear warning of the challenges we may face in future. 

That is why continued investment, resilience and innovation matter. It is also why we need to help customers understand the value of water and the difference small changes can make during prolonged dry spells. 

Reducing leakage across our network is one of our biggest opportunities for the future. Every litre saved, whether through customer behaviour, operational improvements or leakage reduction, helps ease pressure on treatment works, networks and water resources, supporting a reliable service in an increasingly uncertain climate. 

Climate change is not the only factor reshaping demands on our network. Scotland's population distribution is also changing, with continued growth across areas such as Fife, Perthshire, Dundee and the wider Edinburgh city region.  
 
As more people live and work in these communities, demand is rising in places where parts of the network were not originally designed to support that level of growth. That creates an additional long-term planning challenge: how we invest in infrastructure and move water efficiently to where future demand will be greatest. 

In some areas, the issue is no longer simply whether enough water is available. Increasingly, it is whether we can move it around the country quickly enough to meet demand. Parts of Fife provide a good example: during periods of sustained high demand, customer use is beginning to outstrip what can physically be transferred through sections of our trunk water main network. 

This changing picture creates significant operational challenges. Tankers, temporary pumping, network reconfiguration and increased monitoring all help us maintain supplies, but they also place enormous demands on our people, who must continue to respond to bursts, leaks, water quality events and the thousands of other activities that keep Scotland's water flowing every day. 

Climate change is also changing the way our assets behave. Traditionally, winter brought the highest levels of network failures. Increasingly, summer is becoming the new winter. 

Extended periods of hot, dry weather can cause significant ground movement as soils dry out and contract. When rainfall eventually returns, the ground begins to expand again, placing additional stress on water mains, particularly some of our larger trunk mains. The result can be an increase in bursts and asset failures at times of the year when historically we would not have expected them. 

We saw a stark example of this recently in Kirkintilloch when a major trunk main failed, affecting around 6,000 customers. Thanks to the rapid response of our operational teams, supplies were restored and maintained for customers while repairs were carried out.  
 
It was an outstanding effort, but also a reminder that adapting to climate change is not only about securing water resources. It is about ensuring our infrastructure remains resilient to the new challenges that changing weather patterns are creating. 
 
After 40 years in this industry, I remain incredibly proud of the service Scottish Water provides and, more importantly, the people who deliver it every day. 
 
Throughout my career I have seen our people step up time and again. Whether responding to major bursts, severe weather events, drought conditions or unprecedented demand, I continue to be impressed by the professionalism, commitment and determination of the teams I work alongside. 

The next time you turn on the tap, spare a thought for those working behind the scenes to make that happen. As our climate changes, their role has never been more important.