SCOTTISH Water’s chief executive has flagged plans to invest heavily in coming years in anticipation of more extreme weather, and highlighted the utility’s success in minimising disruption to customers amid recent storms and flooding.
Douglas Millican also declared that having the Scottish Government as the utility’s sole shareholder worked “extremely well”, with both parties focused on what was best for customers because there were no private investors.
Mr Millican cited a strong operational performance by Scottish Water and its staff in minimising customer disruption during the extreme weather seen so far this winter.
Noting rivers had burst their banks, water-pumping stations had been flooded and power supplies had been knocked out amid storms in December and January, Mr Millican said: “Our issue is how do we get through that without customers noticing it. We did that, by and large, incredibly successfully.”
Hammering home the importance of future investment to tackle the effects of climate change, highlighting storms and flooding, Mr Millican said: “I think, when you look into the 2020s, the biggest single theme will be building resilience and reliability.
“Undoubtedly, we are in a world of a changing climate. We have got to understand and do everything we need to do to keep the service (going).”
Mr Millican cited the importance of maintaining power supply at Scottish Water facilities when storms hit, to ensure service was not disrupted. He noted this could be done through the likes of back-up generators. Scottish Water is also increasingly producing its own renewable energy.
Asked how big an issue climate change is for Scottish Water, Mr Millican replied: “It will manifest itself in different areas. Undoubtedly, the most significant aspect we have seen so far is more intense storms. You only need to look at the storms in late December, early January.”
Mr Millican noted the River Dee had been at its highest level for about one hundred years, and cited flooding in Dumfries and Galloway.
He added: “That is the most obvious impact. Clearly, with these [storms] you get stronger winds. That has got the impact of blowing out power supplies.
“There is also the possibility of longer periods of sustained dry weather, giving rise to drought.”
While highlighting the need to address climate change, Mr Millican emphasised it was crucial not to “over-react” because Scottish Water did not want to put money into “abortive investment”.
Highlighting the key role that Scottish Water’s staff would continue to play in dealing with the consequences of severe weather, Mr Millican said: “You can’t engineer your way out of everything.
“A lot of it is about adding in operational flexibility as well as investment.”
Mr Millican noted that Scottish Water was doing studies with local authorities looking at common areas of flood risk, and what improvements might need to be made.
In Glasgow, Scottish Water has embarked on a £100 million-plus investment to create the biggest storm-water storage tunnel in Scotland.
The tunnel will be 3.1 miles long, running between Queen’s Park and Craigton industrial estate via Pollok and Bellahouston parks, and will convey and store waste-water to reduce the risk of flooding.
It will be five times the length of the Clyde Tunnel. And Scottish Water has noted that the tunnel, with a diameter of 4.65 metres, would be big enough for a double-decker bus to fit inside.
Scottish Water says the tunnel will resolve large-scale water quality problems in the River Clyde and its tributaries, and reduce the risk of flooding in Aikenhead Road and Curtis Avenue in Mount Florida, and Robslee Drive, Robslee Road, Robslee Crescent and Orchard Park Avenue in Giffnock.
Mr Millican highlighted the benefits of Scottish Water’s ownership model. This model contrasts with that of the privately-owned water companies in England and Wales.
He said: “I think the ownership model works extremely well because, fundamentally, we have effectively a single institutional owner in the Scottish Government, whose interests fundamentally are all about us delivering a great and reliable service for customers for the lowest sustainable cost.
“That absolutely aligns with what we want to do. There is no issue of conflict between what are you doing for customers and what are you doing for shareholders.”
Mr Millican said Scottish Water’s customer satisfaction level was the highest of all traditional UK utilities. And he noted Scottish Water’s household charges were the second-lowest in the UK.
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