News / ‘Significant’ manganese exceedances recorded at Sandy Loch treatment works
EXCEEDANCES of the trace metal manganese were recorded at the Sandy Loch water treatment works this summer in a “significant” incident.
Drinking water is supplied from the Scottish Water site in Lerwick to thousands of customers across the Central and South Mainland, including Lerwick, Scalloway, Burra and Sumburgh.
The Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR) for Scotland said it had recorded a water sample which exceeded the standard for manganese on 23 July this year.
Resamples and a scheduled zonal sample also failed.
That led the DWQR public health team to instigate a sampling regime across the network to determine the cause and the extent of the failures.
“Over the next five weeks manganese levels remained elevated, with 82 samples from final water and zonal sampling breaching the standard,” the DWQR said.
“Two further samples from service reservoirs failed the standard in early September.
“The root cause of this incident was an increase in manganese in the raw water reservoir during summer drought conditions.”
It said there was no dedicated manganese removal at the Sandy Loch water treatment works.
The DWQR marked the event as “significant”, and said Scottish Water had identified five actions to carry out in the wake of the incident.
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said it had taken appropriate actions to monitor and resolve the issue in the short-term.
“There have been further actions identified to ensure the risk of recurrence in future is reduced,” the company said.
“In response to this manganese incident, Scottish Water has identified key actions to address the issue and improve water quality for customers.
“These targeted actions reflect a combination of infrastructure improvements and enhanced operational processes, reinforcing Scottish Water’s commitment to safeguarding water quality and responding proactively to regulatory guidance.”
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its readers to consider paying for membership to get additional perks:
- Removal of third-party ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
