Better water and services for East Dunbartonshire

Scottish Water today unveiled its plans to continue improving the water infrastructure in East Dunbartonshire, bringing clearer, fresher drinking water and improved services to customers across the area.

Last year, a Readers' Digest poll placed East Dunbartonshire top of a poll of  Britain's most family friendly places to live. Thousands of families across East Dunbartonshire will enjoy better quality drinking water and improved services after Scottish Water identified more than £12m of investment to be made in its assets during the next two years.

Jim Hassan, Scottish Water’s regional manager for East Dunbartonshire, said: "East Dunbartonshire residents can be proud that the area includes the single biggest investment by Scottish Water anywhere in Scotland in the Milngavie Water Treatment Works, which serves 700,000 people in much of Greater Glasgow."

Jim Hassan (right), Scottish Water’s regional manager, and Councillor Billy Hendry of East Dunbartonshire Council at the Luggie Water in Kirkintilloch, which will be improved as a result of investment in the area by Scottish Water.

Our investment in East Dunbartonshire area does not stop there. Our customers will enjoy clear and tangible benefits from investment in various other projects across the region, such as £5.5m we are spending at two other key Water Treatment Works at Burncrooks and Balmore.

The investment is part of our commitment to provide good, clean, safe and high quality drinking water to our customers.  The investment programme also ensures Scottish Water delivers on its challenges to transform the water industry while at the same time running an efficient business that keeps charges steady and lower than many of the water companies in England and Wales.

Key water projects in East Dunbartonshire include:

• An upgrade at Burncrooks Water Treatment Works, which supplies parts of Bearsden and Milngavie as well as parts of Clydebank in West Dunbartonshire and Strathblane in Stirlingshire, to provide better quality drinking water and security of supply. The Burncrooks project will cost more than £2m. It started in December and the first phase is due to be completed in the Spring of next year (2009).
• The £500,000 upgrade of the Balmore Water Treatment Works which serves most of the eastern part of East Dunbartonshire, including Torrance, Lennoxtown  and Milton of Campsie, as well as more than 250,000 people in parts of Glasgow and North Lanarkshire. The project started in December and is due to be completed in April.
• A £1.1m project in Lenzie to rehabilitate more than 7kms of mains pipes to provide better quality drinking water and security of supply in the area this autumn.
• A  £130,000 mains rehabilitation project due to start in late February or early March in the Dumgoyne Avenue and Clochbar Avenue area of Milngavie, where there has been a problem with bursts on the ageing mains.
• In addition, in the autumn of 2007 we finished a mains rehabilitation project costing about £200,000 in the Castlehill area of Bearsden and we have just completed a £500,000 mains rehabilitation in the Barloch Tower area near Strathblane Road, Milngavie. Both these projects will provide better quality drinking water, security of supply and better water pressure.
• Scottish Water is also spending £250,000 on an important survey of the Katrine Acqueduct, which supplies water to both the Milngavie and Balmore Water Treatment Works.The survey, due to be completed in April, will highlight the investment requirements to ensure security of supply for more than a million people in parts of Greater Glasgow and the central belt for the next 30 years.

Key waste water projects in East Dunbartonshire include:

• A £4.2m project to improve the environment and water quality in the Luggie Water, Bothlin Burn and Garnkirk Burn in  the Lenzie and Kirkintilloch areas. In the biggest waste water project in East Dunbartonshire, we will install a total of nine screens to reduce the level of effluent spilled into the water in storm conditions. The burns flow into the rivers Kelvin and Clyde, which will also benefit from the improvements.The work is about to start and is expected to be completed by the end of 2009.
• A £540,000 project to tackle internal flooding during heavy rainfall in a number of properties in Strathblane Road, Milngavie which started in November and is due to be completed in early March.

Jim Hassan added: “Delivering clearer, fresher water to people in East Dunbartonshire will account for one of the most significant parts of our investment. We will also improve the environment of some of the area’s rivers and watercourses, which we know is important in an area where many people choose to live because of the quality of life.

“Scottish Water is investing more than £2bn in the current Capital Investment Programme, which began in 2006 and will run until 2010. The majority of that schedule will begin this year. It’s an exciting time for East Dunbartonshire and one we’re delighted to be playing our part in.”

Councillor Billy Hendry, convener of East Dunbartonshire Council’s Development & Environment Committee, is pleased to hear of Scottish Water’s plans for the area, and said: “It is clear from this investment programme announcement that many residents of East Dunbartonshire will benefit either through enjoying clearer and fresher water or from the positive environmental impact of improved water quality in rivers and burns.”

Additional Information

Some of the projects are carried out by Scottish Water Solutions, an innovative joint venture of utility companies and contractors which was set up by Scottish Water in 2003 to manage and deliver the majority of its Capital Investment Programmes.

We want to hear from you

We appreciate all of your thoughts and comments on our investment in East Dunbartonshire, fill in our form here.