Scottish Water has reached a major milestone in its £60 million investment to upgrade Invercannie Water Treatment Works (WTW) in Aberdeenshire - the WTW was originally constructed more than 150 years ago.

Photo: Deirdre Michie and Alex Plant inside the newly-refurbished Invercannie WTW

Opened by Queen Victoria in October 1866 and supplying the then 75,000 population of the Granite City with 27 million litres of water every day, the works has been serving the growing North East population ever since. Invercannie remains a key source of drinking water for the region today – delivering water for around 300,000 customers.

On Friday 20 September its successful modern makeover was celebrated with a re-opening and tree planting ceremony led by Judy Whyte, Provost of Aberdeenshire, alongside Scottish Water’s Chief Executive, Alex Plant and Board Chair, Deirdre Michie OBE.

Acting Net Zero and Energy Secretary for Scotland Gillian Martin commented:

“This is a very welcome investment from Scottish Water. The Scottish Government is working closely with partners to make Scotland’s water supply more resilient to climate change and our waterways cleaner. Scottish Water’s investment in ageing assets like Invercannie will help us adapt to climate change, improve the quality and resilience of the water supply to the North and secure our precious water resources for the future.”

The WTW directly serves the neighbouring areas of Banchory, Aboyne and Stonehaven, and as far as Rhynie, Alford and Ellon through its combined supply with Mannofield Water Treatment Works in Aberdeen. Together they supply around 100 million litres of drinking water daily to the North East, and up to 120 million during peaks in seasonal demand.

The current project, which started in 2020, saw an extensive refurbishment of the existing plant to increase storage, resilience and safeguard the supply to customers.

The upgrade has included:

• a new water storage tank, capable of holding 19 million litres of drinking water on-site;
• the installation of a dissolved air flotation plant to improve water quality;
• a new pumping station and pipework.

The improvements will enable the WTW to produce 63 million litres of drinking water a day.

The work has been carried out on Scottish Water’s behalf by alliance partner ESD, a joint venture between MWHT, GT and Binnies.

Scottish Water’s Chief Executive Alex Plant, said:

“Scottish Water continues to invest at record levels – with more than £1 billion spent in 2023-24 on improving our network, supporting growth, and protecting Scotland’s environment. This major investment at Invercannie, delivered by our partners ESD, will ensure we can provide the service our customers and communities in the City and Shire expect, far into the future.

“The engineering excellence of our Victorian predecessors is evident at Invercannie as it continues its service 150 years on. This latest multi-million pound upgrade is testament to our commitment to safeguard this precious resource for years to come despite the challenges that our more unpredictable climate is bringing. This will improve resilience of supply by upgrading and renewing ageing assets while delivering value for money to customers.”

Scottish Water’s Board Chair, Deirdre Michie, added:

“Extreme and unpredictable weather carries a real risk to our services; warmer and drier summers create increased demand and can cause deteriorating water quality, while more frequent, extreme storms can result in disruption to our assets.

“Invercannie is a great example of the significant investment that we’re making to improve the resilience of water supply to the hundreds of thousands of customers served by the works, reducing the risk of interruption to supply during extreme weather caused by our changing climate.

“We all have a part to play in using our world-class water wisely, but that alone is not enough. Adapting our assets to be more resilient to a changing climate requires investment of up to £5 billion over the next 25 years; we are not complacent about the challenge ahead as we continue to invest at record levels.”