Discoloured Water - what are my rights?

Yim_Yam

My water supply is really discoloured (brown colour) and has been ever since I moved in 18 months ago. I live in Edinburgh and come under Scottish Water.

I reported the problem as soon as I moved in but was told it was probably just sediment from my cold water storage and there was no health issue. I finally got rid of my cold water storage this summer but the colour of the water didn't improve so I checked with Scottish Water again. They said there was no problem in the area and it was probably from old pipes or organic matter in the reservoir and again they said there was no health issue.

I asked if they could come and test the water as it really is quite brown and I have established that the mains cold water supply coming into my property is discoloured, not just in the bathroom, but they said they don't come out to do tests. They are very insistant that there is no problem. I can't help feeling they are just going off assumptions and are fobbing me off but I don't know what my rights are and can't seem to easily find any information on what my rights are.

I checked with the local council and they said they could come and do a test for £100 but that seems really steep. Surely Scottish Water should be obliged to come and do a test free of charge if a consumer is genuinely concerned.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Andy_WSM

Yim_Yam wrote: »

Any advice would be appreciated.

Go and check with your neighbours, see if there's is discoloured too? If it is, ask them if they know why.

Do you live in a remote location? Is the water discoloured because of peat bogs nearby? i.e. it may be perfectly natural discolouration?

I do recall sitting in a bath full of brown water on my recent visit to Inverness and was told it was because the water has drained through peat ground that it is discoloured.

lapat

this is not accepatable, can you answer me some questions and i may be able to assist further
do you live in a cul-de-sac.
have your neighbours experienced the problem
have you had a visit from your water company and what did they say
have you ever collected a sample to provide to the water company
have you contacted watervoice/ccwater

thanks

lapat

the peat bogs are not an issue as your water should be treated as source

Andy_WSM

lapat wrote: »

the peat bogs are not an issue as your water should be treated as source

You would have thought, wouldn't you. However, the greatest number of complaints to Scottish Water year on year is discolouration. http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2009/07/23170951/3

Appearance of the Water

Discoloured Water

Water with a discernable taint or colour caused by suspended or dissolved matter. Two of the most common causes are a yellow taint caused by dissolved organic matter arising from peat in upland sources and more general orange, brown or black discolouration caused by suspended particles of iron (orange/brown) and manganese (black). Iron discolouration may occur through natural iron present in the raw water passing through inadequate treatment or from corrosion of cast iron distribution mains. Manganese is present in some raw waters and may not be removed if treatment is inadequate.

Yim_Yam

Thanks for the replies so far.

I live in the city on the edge of a park and it is a cul de sac.
Will try to track down a neighbour to see if they have noticed the problem too.
The water company will not come out or do any tests - when I asked them to they said there was no problem (even though I was reporting one???!).

I haven't provided a sample for the water company - how do I go about doing that?

Haven't heard of watervoice/ccwater - but will go google them now!

I e-mailed the council to let me see the latest water test results for my area - I gave them my postcode so they would know which area I was in but they 'helpfully' replied that they didn't do tests by postcode - only by area (and failed to provide any). I have e-mailed them again to ask for the results for my area.

Thanks again for help so far.

hwalkerh

If the neighbours also have a problem then i would say that it is the Water companies problem. If the neighbours don't have discoloured water there is probably a problem with the pipe from the boundary which will make it your issue.

If your neighbours also have a problem then i think it would be the water companies issue and if you have no luck with them try consumer council for water for some advice.