Scottish Water has started work on a major £52 million upgrade of Aberdeenshire’s historic Invercannie water treatment works.

Opened by Queen Victoria in 1866, the treatment works at Invercannie, Banchory, was designed to supply Aberdeen's drinking water and is still the main source for the region today.

The treatment works at Invercannie, Banchory, was opened by Queen Victoria in 1866, to supply the growing 75,000 population of the Granite City with 27 million litres of water every day.

James Simpson, one of the greatest engineers of his time, designed the complete works to divert the remarkably pure water of the River Dee from Cairnton, via a 1.3 mile tunnel to a reservoir at Invercannie, 244ft above sea level. After passing through sand filters, gravity-fed the water through an elliptical brick aqueduct to reservoirs in Aberdeen. The original Victorian intake bed still remains today.

Gavin Steel Corporate Affairs Manager at Scottish Water commented:

“It’s an amazing testament to the engineering excellence of the Victorian era that parts of the original infrastructure at Invercannie are still in use more than 150 years later.”

The 2 year project will see the complete refurbishment of the existing plant, including a new water storage tank and a dissolved air filtration plant, with capacity to produce up to 63 million litres of drinking water a day for the area. A new pumping station and associated pipework will also be installed.

A new water storage tank, air filtration plant, and a new pumping station and pipework, are being installed at the existing site by Scottish Water alliance partner ESD.

ESD Operations Manager David Lindsay said:

“This significant investment by Scottish Water will help ensure the existing plant at Invercannie has the resilience to continue supplying fresh, great-tasting water to customers in Deeside and surrounding areas for years to come.”