Chamber and committees

The Drinking Water Quality Regulator for Scotland publishes an Annual report which contains information on the numbers of private water supplies and the quality of water supplied. The information provided is broken down by Local Authority. The most recent information relates to 2022 and is available at https://dwqr.scot/media/bv4go0kc/pws-annual-report-2022-november-2023.pdf

Over the last five years Scottish Water has used social media, community events and other activities such as school visits to encourage people to use water wisely. As part of this, over 100,000 water saving packs have been distributed. Each summer Scottish Water also issues news releases to encourage people to use water wisely and in times of prolonged warm, dry weather, it works with media outlets to encourage coverage of the issue. The costs are incorporated into normal operations and activities

In 2022 Scottish Water launched a behaviour change campaign to raise awareness that 'Water is Always Worth Saving', highlighting water as a precious natural resource. The effectiveness of this campaign is being measured by awareness, attitude and reported behaviours. By August 2023, 58% of people agreed that water is a precious natural resource (up 5% pre-campaign), 81% reported that they would be more careful with water use (up 12% pre-campaign), and 75% said they would take less time in the shower (up 6% pre-campaign).

The cost for the campaign for 2022-23 was £315,000. Almost all the materials developed have been re-used in 2023 and will continue to be used, spreading any cost of production and delivering best value for money. The costs incurred for 2023-24 will be reconciled in the next financial year. The integrated campaign utilises TV and Radio ads, outdoor ads, social/digital media, PR, customer engagement and partnerships with other organisations.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water evaluates long-term supply and demand positions for water resources on a water supply zone basis, looking over a 25 year period and taking into account growth, population change and climate change effects. Further to this, Scottish Water is currently developing options appraisals for resolving deficits to be considered as part of the development of the next investment planning cycle
‎ 2027-33. Options that will be considered are demand reduction, connections to other supply zones, and source and treatment augmentations. The package of solutions for each zone will be specific to their circumstances.

As an example, the Glasgow Resilience Scheme is costing some £120million. This is providing greater resilience of water supplies for a million customers across Ayrshire and Glasgow by allowing water to be moved between catchments.

As this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, and the Scottish Government does not hold this information, I have asked them to respond. Their reply is as follows:

Scottish Water is investing around £110m every year in the operating and capital costs of managing leakage, repairing bursts and rehabilitating water networks. With the capital programme now around £1bn per annum (including responsive repair and refurbishment expenditure) this is equivalent to 8%-10% of capital expenditure.

Special advisors are regularly in attendance at Ministerial and government meetings, including weekly Cabinet meetings. They were also in attendance at the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Climate Emergency on 6 December 2022, 31 January 2023, 14 March 2023 and on 20 June 2023; the cross-party and stakeholder Climate Change Plan Advisory Group on 23 February 2023, 23 March 2023, 18 May 2023, 29 June 2023, 31 August 2023 and 5 October 2023. They were also in attendance at the liaison meetings between the Deputy First Minister and the Scottish Green Party Parliamentary Group on 2 February 2023, 19 July 2023, 28 September 2023 and 23 November 2023.

The following table provides a breakdown of the projected tonnage and funding allocated to Recycling Improvement Fund projects for which tonnage increase is a direct impact. It should be noted that this list does not include all funded projects as recycling tonnage increase is not a direct impact for some projects, such as investments in vehicle technology to help local authorities to identify the most efficient collection routes and to capture data to improve service management and communication with residents.

Each year the Scottish Government provides the Scottish Environment Protection Agency with a grant from the Water Environment Fund (WEF) to support work to deliver our River Basin Management Plan. The projects this supports is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure funding through WEF is targeted on projects which will derive the greatest benefit to Scotland’s rivers and neighbouring communities.

Currently, alternative funding streams for projects to remove Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) in Scotland enable more effective use of resource and provide greater benefits for biodiversity. Subsequently, WEF funding is at the moment prioritising restoring rivers and improving fish migration.

For more information on funding for INNS, I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-23295 on 11 December 2023. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers .

The Scottish Government recognizes the importance of natural flood management (NFM) measures in reducing, slowing or otherwise managing flood waters across catchments and along the coast while also delivering multiple environmental benefits. The Scottish Government provides funding to improve and restore catchment processes including hydrological processes through the Water Environment Fund, Peatland Restoration Fund, Nature Restoration Fund and Forestry Grants scheme.

The Scottish Government does not hold the information on the total number of NFM schemes currently operating across Scotland. The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 recognises the important role of, promotes and encourages the use of NFM techniques, however, the responsibility for the development and delivery of flood protection schemes rests with individual local authorities, who are best placed to respond to local resilience needs. The Scottish Government provides funding to local authorities to facilitate this.

Effective catchment management requires all of Scotland's land owners and land managers to play their part. As such, individual landowners may decide to operate their own NFM schemes, and there is no requirement for them to notify Ministers of such activity. However, we encourage everyone operating a scheme and interested in this field to join the Scottish Government funded NFM Network Scotland which has been set up to share knowledge and best practice amongst those working with NFM projects, research or activities.

A breakdown of lead Directorates is available in the most recent Climate Change Committee progress report on adaptation (CCC, November 2023).The Committee’s recommendations for the highest priority climate risks to be addressed in the next Scottish National Adaptation Plan are broken down by Directorate on pages 18 and 19. Furthermore, each chapter ends with lead Directorates identified against specific policy recommendations relevant to the chapter.