Pittenweem Sewer Flooding Investment

Latest Update - October 2024

• The majority of our East Shore works including installation of the new sea outfall in the outer harbour works was completed ahead of the villages August Arts Festival.
• Minor follow up works are now continuing following the festival with reinstatement of the compound area and abandoning of the existing outfall looking to be completed by the end of October.
• Once this follow up work is completed we will then be on site again towards the end of the year to carry out additional sewer lining works which is being done between approx. No.5 East Shore to near the end of Mid Shore. We will send out further communications to residents ahead of this work commencing.
  

What We Are Doing

• We are looking to address flooding in 3 main areas of Pittenweem –The West Shore, East Shore and West Pittenweem.
• Construction began on 15th January 2024 at East Shore.
• There will be disruption during the construction of these upgrades, with road traffic management and construction noise. We will work with the community to minimise this as much as possible.
• We will continue to engage with the community on what is being proposed. 

East Shore

• Work started on the East Shore on 15th January 2024 and we are now off site as of of October 2024, with the majority of the East Shore work completed and only sewer lining work still to be carried out in November.
• The completed work included an upgraded screened CSO (Combined Sewer Overflow) and a new outfall within East Harbour to MLWS (Mean Low Water Springs), with the existing overflow removed from the inner harbour and taken to MLWS.
• It also included an upgraded power supply to existing waste water pumping station.
• We are currently carrying out some minor follow up work which should be completed by the end of October. We will then be returning for 2 weeks towards the end of 2024 to carry out sewer lining works.

West Shore

Investigation works for the West Shore project will begin at Pittenweems waste water pumping station in November 2024, while the main work will start in 2025 (date tbc). A package of community engagement will be held before this project begins. West shore project will include:

•  Upgrading and installation of new screening to the existing CSO.
• A new long sea outfall to Mean Low Water Springs (MLWS).
• Following discussions with community and committing to minimise the visual impact of the outfall as much as possible, we are able to construct the new outfall so it is fully buried underground.

West Pittenweem

There is known flooding issues in the Western area of Pittenweem. Following updated modelling and solution development, we are currently considering the options, including the diversion of excess storm water from the Sandycraig estate. We will continue to liaise with stakeholders with regard to these plans.

Timescales

Construction work began on East Shore in January 2024. We are looking to carry out work in the different locations in a coordinated way so that we don’t have to completely stop at any one time, but also don’t carry out work in the harbour and beach areas during summer time when the village has higher number of visitors. 

The sequencing of each of the phases of the work will consider minimising disruption, whilst managing construction practicalities and cost. All dates will be subject to change, for example - limited access, vehicle size and movement constraints and tide movements will heavily constrain work at West shore so this phase will likely be slowest to progress once on site.

We will update the community regularly as work progresses. 

Why We Are Doing It

Historically, the area has been prone to sewer flooding during times of heavy rainfall.

This significant investment will address internal sewer flooding and the distress and upset it causes.
Once complete, the increased capacity in the new infrastructure will help reduce the risk of sewer flooding in the area and make a real difference to the households who have been affected in the past.

CSOs are an important mechanism which releases pressure on the network from rain using overflows to rivers and the sea. When there are overflows from a rainstorm, less than 1% of this is sewage from toilets. The screening of these CSOs prevents items which are wrongly flushed down the toilet – such as baby wipes, sanitary items, cotton buds, etc. from ending up on our beaches.