A burst water main has been spilling water onto the street in Edinburgh’s New Town for around a month now, after it was decided repairs would cause too much disruption.
Scottish Water and the council have delayed clearing up the mess, despite the steady flow of water onto Charlotte Square – a crucial nexus point for Edinburgh travel – and close to Bute House, the official residence of the First Minister.
The publicly-owned utility company admitted they have been aware of the issue “for the last month” but said they are working to “establish a timeframe” for works, but no repair squads have so far been spotted.
It is understood that Scottish Water had their traffic management request denied by the council in August because of the ongoing Princes Street closure and anticipated disruption in the busy Charlotte Square.
However, more than a week after Princes Street’s full reopening, Scottish Water was still denied permission to make the repairs, and has only just agreed traffic management with the council.
Speaking today, Alex Orr, who works on Charlotte Square and has been tracking the leak, said:
“I’m not sure what the other works in the area are and why that would preclude repairing a major leak which has been running for days.”
In a response to an email from Alex, a spokesperson for Scottish Water said: “We’ve been aware of this for the last month and have been actively following up with this.
“The council wouldn’t let us in to repair this, and our request for traffic management was denied, which is why we set up the meeting with the council yesterday.
“There was an embargo put in place for any work to commence due to both the previously mentioned road closure and also the festival, however we were aware of how crucial it was to repair this.
“I’m aware the road closure was lifted at the end of August, however we still were not allowed to complete this repair until now.”
They added: “After the meeting with the council, I’m confident that it won’t be long until it is repaired.
“Our traffic management company has sent the plans over to the council, we are just waiting for the approval for this and then we can get in to fix this.
“Our management team is also keeping an eye on this to ensure it is repaired as soon as we possibly can.”
The leak, which appears to be spilling gallons of water onto the street every hour, was first noted by users in a forum dedicated to local news.
Posting on Monday, 24 August, one user said the issue had already been ongoing for weeks.
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said: “We are aware of a water main burst at Charlotte Square, Edinburgh.
“Due to the location of the burst and events within the City Centre we have managed the issue for a period of time in order to cause as little disruption as possible.
“We are working with partners at City of Edinburgh Council and Lothian Buses now to establish a timeframe to repair the burst as soon as possible.”
City of Edinburgh Transport and Environment Convener, Councillor Stephen Jenkinson said: “We prioritise non-emergency utility works according to severity and the needs of the wider network.
“We’ve been liaising with Scottish Water on this issue and work is set to begin today.”
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