Council activates national scheme to ensure Papay doesn’t run dry

A large consignment of bottled water will be shipped to Papay this week after the Council activated a national Scottish Government scheme run by Scottish Water.

The island’s private water supply, which is owned and run by the community, has been running dry and despite the best efforts of residents, such as farmers moving cattle to where they can be supplied with loch water, the water levels remain low.

As a result, the Council has activated the Government-funded Local Authority Private Water Supply Support scheme and requested a large shipment of bottled water be made to the community. This will be facilitated by Scottish Water.

Seven pallets - each comprising one tonne of water in 2L bottles - are now at Hatston and will be ferried to the island on Tuesday. A further 15 pallets are en-route to Orkney by road and sea from mainland Scotland and will arrive this week. Arrangements for the onward shipment of these to Papay are still being finalised.

The Papay water supply comprises five wells feeding one central tank – and although completely managed by the community, the Council acts as “regulator”. As such, the local authority has been liaising with the island and are making arrangements for inspections to be done on the wells to ascertain more information regarding the background and any potential technical issues.

Communications via the Islands Link Officer continue as the Council continues to monitor the situation and provide support.

The Chair and Vice Chair of the multi-agency Orkney Local Emergency Co-ordinating Group (OLECG) are aware of the situation and whilst a meeting of the emergency group has not been called as yet, this remains under review.

Kenny MacPherson, the Council’s Head of Property, Asset Management & Facilities, said: “The Council’s Environmental Health team were advised on this matter mid-morning on Sunday and were informed that the community would be carrying out investigations.

“It is understood that all five wells have run low which has impacted the pumping process. Scottish Water have no assets on the island and no operational involvement.  However, there’s a national scheme, which allows local authorities to request Scottish Water provide supplies of water (usually in bottles) to individuals for a short period of time whilst their private water supply is unavailable. This has been activated now and will provide relief for the folk on the island meantime.

“Our thanks are extended to the local community for their efforts and Scottish Water for coming to everyone’s aid via the scheme. More details will be available as arrangements are finalised.”