An Angus village has been blighted by filthy water that dogs would be hard-pressed to drink.
Letham residents woke on Saturday to find their taps were producing a dark liquid and as much as half of the village was affected at one time.
”Things still aren’t back to normal yet,” resident Ian Brown told The Courier on Monday. ”The water was darker than coffee and full of really gritty sediment at the bottom when you poured a glass.
”My dog is a working dog and he drinks out of mucky puddles all the time. But he wouldn’t drink this stuff out of a bowl if I put one down for him.
”I phoned up on Saturday night and they told us there had been a small breach in the line somewhere, and we were to run the taps for an hour and not flush the toilet.
”That didn’t make any difference. On Sunday there was no improvement.”
Mr Brown added: ”By 5pm on Sunday the water was actually worse again. By that point I had probably phoned them a dozen times.
”Scottish Water were very apologetic about it but the only thing they could do was send a lorryload of bottled water out to affected residents.”
This had been promised at 7pm in The Square but did not arrive until 10.30pm, by which time many older residents had gone to their beds or retreated from the cold.
A Scottish Water spokesman said: ”Scottish Water engineers repaired a significant burst to a water main serving the Letham area over the weekend. Bottled water was delivered directly to those customers requesting alternative supplies.
”The burst disturbed the natural sediment which lies in these pipes. These pipes have a recent history of bursts and require rehabilitation, therefore as part of a £15 million programme of work across Tayside and Fife, Scottish Water will shortly be improving this section of the water mains network.
”We would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”
Another lorry delivered to Letham Square yesterday at 4.30pm, leaving bottles for those still not wanting to drink the water.