A half mile-long new sewer tunnel is to be installed beneath the streets of the Yoker area of Glasgow as part of a £7 million project to help improve the water quality and natural environment of the River Clyde and tackle flooding issues.

Scottish Water has started work on the project, which involves the construction of a new sewer tunnel from the grounds of the former Blawarthill Hospital to the north bank of the Clyde.

The project, which will also involve the construction of a new Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) with powered screens at two sites, will improve water quality on the Yoker Burn culvert and the Clyde and help tackle flooding issues which have affected a commercial property in Dumbarton Road.

The new stretch of sewer, which will be about eight metres deep, will be installed using a specially constructed Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) rather than using the open cut method of excavating because this method will be easier and will minimise disruption.

The new CSO at the former hospital grounds will spill waste water in storm conditions to the new sewer and the new sewer will discharge the waste water to the River Clyde, as permitted by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Contractors George Leslie, working for Scottish Water, are expected to complete the work in about a year, depending on weather conditions.

The improvement work in Yoker and Clydebank is part of Scottish Water’s £250m investment in the Greater Glasgow area’s waste water network, the biggest in more than a century.

The Greater Glasgow area investment follows years of collaboration and studies by the Metropolitan Glasgow Strategic Drainage Partnership (MGSDP), whose partners include Scottish Water, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Glasgow City Council and Scottish Canals.