Scottish Water has started construction of the first phase of a £120 million investment in its drinking water network which will benefit more than 200,000 people and businesses in much of Ayrshire and parts of East Renfrewshire.
Preparatory work on a 13 mile-long strategic water main from near Newton Mearns to the Fenwick/Waterside area has been carried out and work has now started to install the pipes.
The route of this section of water main, which goes over mainly farmland and open moorland, starts at Waulkmill Glen reservoir in the north and goes south via Drumboy Hill, close to the M77 and A77 to Amlaird Water Treatment Works near Fenwick, with branches to the South Moorhouse and Corsehouse water treatment works. Scottish Water estimates that the new water main will be completed by the autumn.
Following 18 months of preparatory work, which included the creation of a strip for the water main to be installed and involved close liaison with landowners and statutory bodies as well as detailed ecological studies, contractors for Scottish Water have been laying sections of pipe adjacent to the route prior to installation.
The contractors are now setting up welding areas and excavating five metre-deep trenches before using a large crane to lower 12 metre-long sections of the steel pipe, weighing up to three tonnes, into place.
Stewart Davis, Scottish Water’s programme manager, described the project as a major piece of work on the first phase of Scottish Water’s overall investment in improvements to connect the system in Ayrshire with the Greater Glasgow area’s network.
In December 2015 the utility announced that it will improve the water supply network by installing 30 miles of new water mains to connect the system in Ayrshire with the Greater Glasgow area’s network.
The other sections of new mains will be a section of about 13 miles from the Fenwick Waterside area to Dundonald in South Ayrshire and a section of about six miles from the Pollok area to a reservoir storage tank in the south of Glasgow
The new and expanded network will enable Scottish Water to provide customers with greater security of supply and to respond more effectively to operational issues such as burst water mains and minimise disruption to customers.
Customers across a large part of Ayrshire currently receive their water from a single source, the Bradan Water Treatment Works, south of Straiton in South Ayrshire.
The water is supplied to customers’ taps via a 34-mile-long trunk water main installed about 50 years ago from the Bradan Water Treatment Works to the north of Irvine.
Construction of new strategic water main to take four years
The construction of the new strategic water main, which is expected to take about four years, will connect the Bradan water supply network to the network served by the Milngavie and Balmore water treatment works, north of Glasgow.
When complete, the investment will enable Scottish Water to transfer water from Glasgow to Ayrshire, and vice-versa, if required, creating a larger, more robust and connected supply zone.
Another key part of the investment will deliver improved water quality to about 56,000 people as the existing water supply from three small water treatment works in East Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire (Amlaird, Corsehouse and South Moorhouse) is replaced with water supplied from the Glasgow network. This part of the scheme will also enable Scottish Water to introduce a sustainable solution to issues with the raw water quality supply before treatment.
£21m Oban Water Treatment Works upgrade progressing
Scottish Water is separately progressing with a £21 million project to build a new water treatment works for Oban – the water company has just started the construction of the new Tullich Water Treatment Works (WTW), just south of Oban, with a view to having it fully operational by the autumn of 2017.
Work started on-site in mid-March and, with bulk earthworks now substantially completed, construction work will begin in the coming weeks. The project is being carried out by Scottish Water’s delivery partner Efficient Service Delivery (ESD).
The new WTW will incorporate three major levels of water treatment, including dissolved air flotation (DAF), rapid gravity filtration and secondary filtration, meeting the most rigorous standards set out by the Drinking Water Quality Regulator (DWQR). Once the new facility is fully operational, the existing WTW will be demolished.
Scottish Water has also unveiled details of the first part of a £5 million investment in major water main improvement works for Dundee. Pipe refurbishment work, which includes replacement, re-lining the internal structure of the mains or cleaning them by swabbing and flushing, will be carried out by Scottish Water’s Alliance partner, Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA).
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