A PROBE has been launched after hundreds of vulnerable people were left without water for almost 24 hours during last week's cold snap.

Scores of homes in Skelmorlie, Wemyss Bay and Inverkip saw supplies dry up after a problem with a faulty valve on Wednesday.

People turned to social media to ask for help from Scottish Water, with the utility giant forced to start drop-off deliveries of bottled water to the elderly and infirm.

Local councillor Ian Murdoch has labelled the fiasco as 'unacceptable' and said plans must be in place to make sure water supplies can be readily distributed to the needy in the event of a shortage.

He added: "I fully appreciate Scottish Water were working very hard in sub zero temperatures to get the water back running as quickly as possible and locate where the problem was, but the concern I have was that they didn't have a plan in place for something like this.

"They say they were giving bottled water to vulnerable people but in these weather conditions everyone was vulnerable and as far as I could see not enough was being done to get alternative supplies to the communities affected which has happened in the past when there is a water cut.

"I was also informed that while some people on the vulnerable list got supplies, it was not them all

"Some people were still without water the next day. The reasoning behind that, which I can appreciate, is that due to the adverse weather conditions, the water had to be turned on slowly or we could have ended up with bursts pipes.

"The most important thing is having contingency measures in place for when this kind of thing happens."

A Scottish Water spokesperson said: "Following further investigations and after ruling out a number of possible issues, our investigations located a closed valve from the actions of a third party, which was isolating water supply to the areas experiencing issues. Our teams on site have been working on this valve.

"We have been contacting customers on our priority services register throughout this evening to offer bottled water, which we have been delivering to properties. Bottled water was also distributed to those upon request.

"We would like to apologise to all affected customers for the inconvenience experienced from this.

"The interruption to normal supplies experienced by some customers in the areas of Skelmorlie, Wemyss Bay and Inverkip was as a result of an issue caused by a third party.

"No compensation will be considered as the disruption was not caused by a failure of the water network.

“We actively phoned customers in these areas who were registered on our Priority Services Register and bottled water was delivered on request by operatives and staff volunteers.

“As soon as the issue was rectified, the network had to be slowly recharged to prevent burst pipes which could have led to further disruption for customers.

“Across Scotland, our Customer Engagement Centre had around 8,000 contacts from customers on Wednesday. We fully understand the inconvenience of being without water and we are working with a number of other agencies and organisations to ensure resilience in communities during the winter."