Scottish Water issued the following message with advice on the current heatwave on Monday 18 July.

As you will all be aware, many parts of Scotland are expected to see record high temperatures during the course of tomorrow, following on from very warm weather today and in recent days.

Scottish Water teams have been preparing and are working hard across the country to support customers and communities that are impacted by the hot weather. As ever, if there is a service issue affecting customers, Scottish Water can be contacted 24/7 via any of the details at www.scottishwater.co.uk/help-and-resources/contact-us/contacting-us.  If there are issues that you need to raise on behalf of the communities you represent, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team and we will do all we can to assist.

Stay hydrated and stay safe

Our primary focus today and tomorrow is on alerting customers in areas that are experiencing very hot weather to the importance of hydration in staying safe.

Our Your Water Your Life campaign, supported by our growing network of Top up Taps across the country, encourages people to enjoy Scotland’s drinking water – including by carrying a refillable water bottle when they are out and about.

Whether topping up at home, at work, at a local business or from a Top up Tap, we know that having access to drinking water is especially important in these conditions. Staying hydrated is essential – and using a refillable water bottle also saves money and helps the environment.

How you can help

Reducing unnecessary water use

We’re urging people across the country to help maintain normal water supplies by reducing unnecessary water use, especially outdoors.

Even before the current hot weather arrived, over the second weekend in July customers used an additional 200 million litres in their homes and gardens – the equivalent of 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools more than normal.

Everyone can take care of drinking water for its most important purpose and protect the environment by:

  • Using a watering can or water butt instead of a garden hose / sprinkler – hoses can use 1000 litres per hour (equivalent of 12 baths)
  • Watering plants early in the morning or later in the evening – and avoiding watering lawns which recover quickly from dry weather
  • Using a bucket and sponge rather than a hose / jet washer to wash the car
  • Avoiding filling up large paddling pools which can take thousands of litres – as well as re-using any water in them where you can

How you can help

Respect our reservoirs – and know the risks

Alongside our emergency services and other partners, we know that these conditions significantly increase the risk of serious water safety incidents around our coasts and inland – including at many of the reservoirs that we look after.

In the hottest weather, the hazards of deep, cold water are easily underestimated – but even the strongest swimmers can be affected by cold water shock.  There is a lot of research showing that we are all prone to thinking that it won’t happen to us, but tragically it does happen. We work all year round with Water Safety Scotland and a wide range of organisations to raise awareness; as well as with our long term partners Scottish Swimming to making young people aware of the risks and give them basic survival skills.

How you can help