Christmas a washout as burst water pipe cuts off supply

People living in Moat House in Slateford, home to around 60 properties, have been relying on bottled water and buckets to help flush the toilet for almost three days.

Residents last night revealed how they hadn’t been able to cook their Christmas dinners or wash and smarten themselves up for a 60-hour period.

Jasper Kynaston, 34, an IT engineer who lives at Moat House, said he’d been forced to travel to his mum’s for a shower.

He said: “I live on my own but I can imagine for some of the families it must have been awful – I’m sure it’s ruined a few Christmas dinners.

“The corner of the building was completely flooded when it first happened and the water was coming through the brick work on the opposite side of the flats.

“People were working away on it but there wasn’t any indication of when it was going to be switched back on.”

The water supply was disrupted late on Christmas Eve and was finally reconnected following a temporary repair yesterday afternoon.

It is understood the repair, which is the responsibility of Edinburgh City Council, was delayed because the supplier with the spare parts required was closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Violet Marshall, 75, said: “It was terrible – it put a dampener on our Christmas.

“I had my daughter and her husband and the kids over. When I realised there was no water I wondered what had happened.

“We couldn’t have showers, we were supplied with bottled water but it wasn’t the same.”

Another resident, a father-of-two, said: “It’s been a bit of a nightmare.

“The council gave us 12 litres of water and we had buckets handed to us for the toilet.

“You could pretty much say Christmas dinner was ruined – you can’t exactly boil tatties without water.”

The gran of one young family living in the block said the debacle had left her at her wits’ end. She said: “Christmas has been ruined. There’s been a lot of tears. People just haven’t been able to cope. All of the things you take for granted – smartening yourself up for the big day, boiling the sprouts, washing up, having people round. People just haven’t been able to do any of that. It’s been utterly miserable.

“The place, to be frank, has been left absolutely stinking by it. Christmas was cancelled.”

Housing leader Cammy Day said the council had been “working hard” over the last few days to deliver bottled water and water containers to the affected properties.

He added: “Understandably the lack of water facilities for residents is extremely frustrating – especially over the Christmas period – and we’ve been working with Scottish Water to carry out a temporary repair today that will reinstate water to these properties.”

A Scottish Water spokesman said: “Although this burst occurred within a private boundary and outwith Scottish Water’s pipe network, we understand the inconvenience and frustration that will have been caused and that’s why we have been doing all we can to assist the council in dealing with this situation, providing support and helping to make bottled water available for 
residents.”

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