The battle for water

Sunday night was certainly interesting. I’d spent much of the day cleaning out the pig hut and the chicken shed, as well as doing the daily chores so I was on the whiffy side. At the same time, the boys were grotty from playing outside while we worked, the weekend laundry hadn’t been done and there was a mound of washing up that was starting to fester.

The boys came first and had a very shallow bath with about two gallons of water, with the remainder being kept for drinking, cooking and hand washing. The pigs had enough water to last them another day, and the chickens were also fine.

But little did I realise how long my own personal status as a “minger” was to last…

Come Monday and it was time to try finding water again. Back to Scottish Water to ask if I could buy water and again the mantra was “that is not a service we provide”.

All right, back to Aberdeenshire Council to see if the regular staff in Environmental Health could help. The first person I spoke to was less than helpful, pointing out that it was my responsibility as the house owner to ensure the house had an adequate water supply. They went on to tell me that if I did not provide an adequate supply, then the council would servce an enforcement notice on me and that I would have 14 days to comply.

I couldn’t help but laugh at this - the council was going to command the waters to come forth! Of course, the ever-so serious official couldn’t understand why I found the situation so funny, but I had this picture of a grey-suited man standing by the borehole, reading from a legal paper and ordering the water out of the ground.

So, I hung up the phone and then dialled the council again, following my basic rule of thumb when dealing with bureaucrats, call centres and the like - if at first you get rejected, try again until you find someone who will help.

This time I did get lucky, getting put through to Peter Fowler in Environmental Health. He readily agreed that the council had no legal responsibility to help us, but that he would see what he could do. Over the next two days, he was in regular contact as he tried to find us a source of water, a bowser and a long-term solution.

The only problem was that Peter also couldn’t get Scottish Water to help - they just stonewalled and said they wouldn’t sell us water, much less deliver it in a bowser.

Meanwhile, Norah Radcliffe had got back to me to say that she’d hadn’t been able to get help overnight but add that she would keep trying.

By now, it was becoming clear I would have to come up my own solution for at least the short-term.