A proposed change to water leakage allowances could save farmers thousands of pounds following the persistence of Scottish landowners.
Landowner James Osborne wrote to his local MP after becoming exasperated with the current rules on leakage allowances.
The allowances relate to the amount landowners can reasonably be expected to claim back if high water usage is reported due to a leak in a pipe on their land.
However, with the meter readings cut to just twice a year, leakages can go undetected for some considerable time and result in farmers and landowners losing large sums of money.
Thanks to the persistence of Mr Osborne and his fellow landowners, Scottish Water is now in the process of revising its burst allowance policy.
Mr Osborne, who is also a Consultant in Rural Land Management at estate agent Bell Ingram said: “It used to be that Scottish Water offered a leakage allowance for each meter once in ten years.
“This was then changed to so that you were given an allowance whereby you only paid half of the additional costs incurred due to a leak.
“However the lack of an allowance provided nowadays seems unfair and the fact that the meter is read only two quarters in a year with the other two quarters based on estimated readings puts land owners at risk of costly leaks going unnoticed for long periods,” he said.
'Thousands of gallons'
Some water companies in England do offer leakage allowances, and farmers in Scotland are keen that they are afforded a level playing field with the re-introduction of a leakage allowance.
Mr Osborne added: “Thousands of gallons of water have been lost by Scottish Water as leaks are not repaired immediately so I think it is only fair that the powers at be allow farmers to claim leakage allowances.
“I wrote to Angus MP Kirstene Hair and was delighted that Scottish Water responded to her to say that they are taking on my feedback and reviewing their burst allowance policy," he said.
A revised policy will be published soon and could include a change to the allowances granted as well as an extension to the length of standard burst allowance to reflect the time it can take for customers to identify and repair bursts.
