Scottish Water is encouraging people on the Shetland island of Yell to see for themselves preliminary plans for a new £6million drinking water treatment works and system of pipelines to supply the whole island.

An Information Day later this month will provide local communities with information on the project. Technical drawings will be on display and members of the project team will be on hand to answer any queries.

Steve Scott, Scottish Water’s communities manager for Shetland, said:

“Yell is currently served by three separate water treatment works. All of them require upgrading to meet the latest standards. It makes a lot of sense to build one brand new facility to supply the whole island. This will ensure the highest standards for our customers, greater reliability and reduce the costs involved in maintaining numerous sites. I’d encourage local people to come along to see for themselves what’s involved.”

The new water treatment works wil be located at Burravoe and will use water from Loch of Kettlester. Scottish Water is proposing to raise the loch level slightly to get enough water to feed the new treatment works.  While the exact location for the new works has still to be agreed and approved, for operational reasons it is likely to be close to the outlet burn from Kettlester Loch. The new works will comprise a treatment building, storage tanks, a dam structure and a new loch intake.