Kippford Waste Water Upgrades

Investing in Kippford
Multimillion pound upgrade
Project Overview
Scottish Water is in the process of planning a multimillion pound upgrade to the Wastewater Treatment infrastructure in Kippford. This investment will help protect the environment in the Urr Estuary and improve the bathing waters at Rockcliffe which have been classified as ‘poor’ by SEPA. Click here to find out more.
The project will include the construction of a new wastewater treatment works, a new sewer, a new pumping station and a new outfall into the estuary.
The existing works at Rough Firth is unable to treat the waste to the required standard because it does not have disinfection equipment.
We are committed to working with the community to ensure the solution which is ultimately delivered is appropriate and sensitive to the needs of the area.
Latest Update:
We will be starting work on site at the existing Kippford Waste Water Treatment Works (Roughfirth Road) week commencing 22nd February. This work involves initial site preparation, followed by the installation and commissioning of temporary tanks and equipment ahead of the 2021 bathing season. Letters have gone out to the local community to inform them of these works.
Our intention is to complete all the installation and fencing around the site by end of March so we are not restricting any movement during the Easter Holidays. We would have left starting this work until later, however it would not have given us enough time to complete before SEPA sampling starts for the 2021 bathing season.
Permanent Waste Water Treatment Works
Following a community consultation, we confirmed the location of the new works would behind the telephone exchange on the road leading into the village.
Work is progressing on the design of the new works. We need to do some further ground investigation for the chosen site - we will inform the community when this is to happen. The next major milestone when we will want to engage the community in the village will be when we have a design to submit for planning approval. This is likely to be later in the year.
Below, we have included a very early 3D model of what the works could look like. Please note that this model does not include any additional screening, which is something we will work with the community on as the project progresses.
In the 'Further Information' section above you will find a presentation given to a group of community members in November. This presentation includes more details about the works and more images.
Once we have a detailed project plan, we will look at hosting further information sessions for the wider community.
Temporary Waste Water Treatment Works
In order to help protect the Bathing Water at Rockcliffe during the bathing season, we have submitted a temporary planning application to install extra disinfection equipment at our existing wastewater treatment works in Rough Firth.
This equipment will not be installed in 2020 but will be required in 2021. It will be removed outside of the bathing season.
Following community feedback on our original application, we withdrew it and have developed an alternative proposal.
This has been included in the Further Information section of this webpage.
These plans have been resubmitted and are available on the Dumfries and Galloway planning website.