Scottish Water issued an emergency warning to everyone living in Tomintoul this week not to drink, cook or wash with their tap water.

And residents were warned that not even boiling the water would make it safe and that mains water could only be used for flushing toilets.

Water crews descended on the community on Wednesday afternoon to place bowsers throughout the village and deliver bottled water to all vulnerable and special needs customers, general households and businesses.

Scottish Water officials had also been delivering notices through letter boxes and by issuing loudhailer warnings around the village.

The village has been plagued by a series of drinking water problems in recent years, which has prompted work to be carried out by Scottish Water at the local treatment works.

Tourist businesses were badly affected on Wednesday, with many restaurants and hotels unable to serve customers.

Mike Drury, who owns The Whisky Castle, The Highland Market and Highlander Coffee Lounge, said: "Our cafe has been closed since 10 o'clock this morning. We have been told the pH level is 11 when it should be 7; that is poisonous."

And while praising workers on the ground delivering water, he criticised senior management at Scottish Water for dragging their heels. "I tried to contact these guys on Tuesday when I heard there was a problem. For 24 hours we have been neglected by Scottish Water."

Mr Drury said villagers had been campaigning for four years to bring about improvements and to do something about mains water which is not fit to drink. "We are suffering because of the inefficiencies of a very large, cumbersome corporation," he added.

Paul Alderson, owner of The Old Fire Station Restaurant, said: "This is bordering on closing us down, but we are managing to wangle things at the moment. Anything we produced this morning using water has had to be dumped and we couldn't even serve teas and coffees until we got bottled water this afternoon."

The water boiler is connected to the mains water supply, so staff were having to boil bottled water in pots and pans. "Even in the toilets people haven't been able to wash their hands," he added.

Local resident Mike Budd said inhabitants were fed up with the situation. "It is not good enough, not in this day and age," he said. "They (Scottish Water) promised this would never happen again. Since they started improvement works, this is the second incident.

"At least when you can boil the water you can deal with it. This is the first time we have had bottled water delivered, so it must be serious. I don't know what the hotels are going to do because they have coach parties in and they can't let people wash."

Despite the anger, Mr Budd said most villagers remained philosophical. "A couple of guys joked to me that they would have to drink their whisky without water now," he said.

A Scottish Water spokesman said the latest incident was not related to previous issues at the water treatment works and prior boil water notices.

He said there was a problem with the local water treatment system affecting the pH balance of the system. "In view of the potential risk to public health from consuming the affected water, householders and businesses in Tomintoul should not use their tap water for drinking, food preparation or washing until further notice," he added.

Scottish Water insisted that water from other reservoirs and treatment works was not affected.

Dr Maria Rossi, NHS Grampian consultant in public health medicine, said: "We appreciate the inconvenience this advice not to use water will bring to people and businesses in the affected areas, but at all times our priority has to be the protection of the public's health."

Scottish Water said it was working to resolve the issue as a priority and an incident management team chaired by NHS Grampian and comprising representatives from Scottish Water and Moray Council was monitoring the situation.

The advice from Scottish Water was that mains water should not be used for drinking, food preparation, making babies' feeds, brushing teeth, bathing or for feeding pets.

They also urged people to avoid any drinks and ice dispensing machines as these maybe connected to the mains supply.

The NHS Scotland Helpline – 0800 22 44 88 – is open 24 hours to handle any inquiries from people with health concerns.

Scottish Water also issued an emergency number for people to contact with concerns about affected areas, 0845 600 88 55, or get more information online at www.scottishwater.co.uk

c.saunderson@northern-scot.co.uk

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