Footballer unwraps Elgin's top-up tap

ELGIN City FC have helped unwrap Scottish Water’s latest top-up tap in the town's Plainstones just in time for Christmas.

Club chairman Graham Tatters and striker Shane Sutherland joined councillors Graham Leadbitter and John Divers, and members of Scottish Water’s local team, to help launch the latest state-of-the-art tap designed to encourage people to top up their water bottles for free and help cut plastic bottle waste.

The first top-up tap in Moray is the 18th across Scotland, with the total expected to rise to 70 over the next 18 months. The first tap was installed last October outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.

The installation is part of Scottish Water’s Your Water, Your Life campaign which encourages more people to carry a refillable bottle and drink tap water on the go to stay hydrated, save money and help protect the environment by reducing waste. Scottish Water hopes it becomes the norm for people to take a reusable bottle out and about and refill from the taps.

Shane said: "This is a great addition to Elgin’s High Street and will hopefully prompt more people to carry a refillable water bottle with them when they are out and about.

"For us, staying properly hydrated is really important to make sure we are at our best when we are playing and I would encourage everyone to make good use of this tap because of all the health benefits that drinking more water can have."

Councillor John Divers said: "It's something that will serve a purpose, especially where it's situated next to the seating. It will really come into its own in the summer season. It's ideal – fine fresh water for people at all times."

Council leader Graham Leadbitter added: "You can't get better water in Moray than the finest Glenlatterach-Badentinan mix. It's a cracking blend and the healthiest thing you can drink."

Local Scottish Water network services operator Ewan Shand explained there were 36 15m-deep boreholes up the Spey for about a mile, starting at the bridge near Baxters, at Fochabers, and set back 200m from the river. Water is extracted from aquifers below the ground – underground layers of rock that are saturated with water which can be brought to the surface by pumping.

Mr Shand said the "crystal-clear" water is pumped from there up to the treatment works at Badentinan, tucked away in forest at Teindland, and comes back into Elgin near Spynie where it mixes with the Glenlatterach Reservoir water.

Mr Shand, who helped install the tap, said Elgin's water was unique. He said: "Most areas have just one kind – but we're on blended water. Most people are on 'single malt'.

"We want to encourage people to carry a refillable bottle when they leave the house so that they can top up from the tap, whether at the Plainstones, or at workplaces, businesses and other facilities across Moray. More and more people are making the change, recognising that drinking more water is good for your health, good for your pocket and better for our environment too."

To date more than 40,000 litres of water has been drunk from the top-up taps – the equivalent of 120,000 standard 330ml single-use plastic bottles.

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