Scottish Water lift boil notice for north-west Sutherland households
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Scottish Water have advised that tap water is now safe to drink, after residents in Lochinver, Inverkirky and Achmelvich had been told to boil water before use over the weekend.
An alert was raised on the evening of Friday May 6 when a burst water main at Lochinver water treatment works prompted a potential risk to public health for residents in postcodes IV27 4L* and IV27 4J*.
Concerns about the presence of cryptosporidium in the water resulted in householders and businesses being advised to boil all water used for drink and food preparation before use.
Bottled water was supplied by Scottish Water to locations at the Culag Hotel, Lochinver Stores and Inverpark Stores, for residents and people staying in overnight accommodation.
Normal service was restored by 4pm on Sunday May 8.
Scottish Water’s team has since been working, in consultation with NHS Highland, to obtain and analyse further water samples in order to be confident that there is no risk to public health.
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said: “We would like to apologise to customers in Lochinver, Inverkirkaig and Achmelvich whose water supply has been affected by this issue and thank them for their patience.
“We appreciate the advice to boil water causes inconvenience but it is vitally important that every precaution is taken to protect public health. Customers can now be confident that they can once again use their water as normal.”
