It’s now known that wind farm construction can have serious detrimental effects to water supplies. Two reservoirs and a water treatment works near Whitelees have been so badly polluted that they’ve been abandoned and a new water pipe brings water from the north of Glasgow to East Ayrshire at a cost to the public of £120 million.

If you have a private water supply and a wind farm is proposed in the area it is essential to find out where your supply is fed from. Wind farm companies should be monitoring water quality over a period of time taking account of differing weather conditions. We’ve found this rarely happens. Make sure there is a geohydrology report and contact the Environmental Health department at South Ayrshire Council if you have any concerns.

Wind farm construction which involves creating tracks, digging cable trenches, borrow pits (quarries, up to 4 metres deep at Knockskae), turbine bases (4 metres deep or more if needed) and hardstanding bases. These can be located some distance from your water supply but can still cause pollution to the water table and private supplies.