Scottish Water is progressing work on a £5 million upgrade at its McDonald Road Waste Water Pumping Station in Edinburgh – the latest phase has seen the installation this week of a nine-tonne screw pump into a deep underground chamber.
Photo: new Archimedes screw arriving on site
The pumping station uses enormous Archimedean screw pumps to move millions of litres of waste water across the capital. It has been in operation for over 50 years and to ensure the continued efficiency and reliability of the city’s sewer network, the site is undergoing major refurbishment.
A crane was used to lower the 14.4-metre-long screw pump, which is capable of processing 1,800 litres of water per second, into position.
Made of stainless steel, the newly installed screw pump replaces the original which was removed from the ground in October 2024. It is one of two screw pumps below ground at McDonald Road.
The foul screw is located adjacent to the larger “storm screw”, which operates under storm conditions. The original storm screw was removed in December 2023 and replaced with a new one in April 2024.
The project is being delivered alongside delivery partner, Morrison Water Services.
Known as the “foul”, or “duty” screw, it is in operation every day to move waste water and collect drainage from the Canonmills and Broughton areas of the city, transferring it to a large sewer.
Gravity then takes over and the waste water runs along the sewer to Scotland's largest waste water treatment works at Seafield for treatment.
Photo: old Archimedes pump screw removed in October 2024
Rob Mustard, Scottish Water's Director of Capital Investment said:
"The refurbishment of McDonald Road Pumping Station represents a significant investment in Edinburgh’s waste water network, supporting our goals of service excellence and delivering improvements for the benefit of the environment and customers for years to come.”
“Extracting and installing assets of this size is challenging work, and requires a good deal of forward planning and co-ordination to be undertaken safely.
“The screw pump installed at McDonald Road Pumping Station is just one of many impressive and vital underground assets serving communities across Scotland, most of which people will rarely see. This was a major operation and our dedicated teams are to be congratulated for carrying out the challenging work safely.”
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