Work ongoing to repair water supply in Borders after 5,000 customers cut off

Work remains ongoing to restore water supplies after a fault at a treatment works affected thousands of customers across southern Scotland.

People in parts of the Borders were advised not to drink tap water after damage was found to a pipe at Rawburn Water Treatment Works on Tuesday.

Almost 275 homes in Duns, Eccles, Eyemouth, Coldingham, and Chirnside have been left without water while emergency repairs are carried out.

Scottish Water said that water levels in affected tanks are now restoring and customers will begin to see an improvement in the coming hours.

“First and foremost, I’d like to apologise to customers who have been affected by this interruption to their normal water supply”, said customer water services general manager, John Griffen.

“Initially around 5,000 customers were impacted, however this is reducing as the situation improves.

“Our focus has been on restoring tank levels to maintain supplies to try and meet customer demand, and our operational teams on the ground have been working round-the-clock to do this.”

Mr Griffen said that care teams and volunteers had been deployed customers on the Priority Services Register, delivering bottle water and setting up water collection points.

“This has taken time due to the number of customers affected, and we thank customers for their patience,” he said.

Customers are asked to contact Scottish Water on 0800 0778 778 if an unstaffed bottled water collection point has run out but assured those affected that there plans in place to replenish stocks throughout the day.

“The recovery process has been extremely complex but I’m pleased to confirm we’re seeing progress as tank levels are improving, which is encouraging,” Mr Griffen said.

“We’re taking a cautious approach to recharge the network slowly to protect customer supplies and the quality of the water which serves these communities.”

Bottled water continues to be supplied across the area, with the main collection point at Berwickshire High School.

Additional bottled water collection points are being replenished at the following locations: