Scottish Water’s new £5 million water treatment plant in Whalsay is starting to take shape after a major part of the structure arrived on site this week.
Major improvements to the water treatment and supply network on the island, situated east of Shetland Mainland, started in late August, which will see more than £5.4 million invested in the construction of a brand new water treatment plant to supply around 1,000 people.
The plant will replace the existing water treatment plant on the island.
Part of the structure has now arrived on site, after being shipped from Inverness earlier this week.
It was assembled at Ross-shire Engineering’s workshop in the Highlands and then loaded onto barges to be shipped to Symbister where it arrived recently. Cranes then unloaded the structure to be taken onto the site close to Loch Huxter.
As well as the new treatment plant the project also includes the building of a new pumping station next to the existing one on the banks of Loch Huxter and construction of a new 700 metre water main through rural land to the new plant.
The hi-tech new filtration plant adds a vital new level of treatment to the local supply, augmenting the existing treatment.
David Kitching, Senior Project Manager with Scottish Water, said:
“The delivery and installation of the modular treatment plant is a significant milestone for the Whalsay WTW upgrade.”
“Off-site fabrication and testing with modular delivery has realised the significant reduction in on-site construction and traffic movement, normally associated with a project of this nature.”
“The project is also using other modular build techniques, with a benefit of reducing site construction time further.”
Work involves construction of a new water treatment works next to the existing treatment works located to the West of Loch Huxter. The project also includes construction of a new pumping station next to the existing pumping station located on the banks of Loch Huxter and a new 700m raw water main from here through rural land to the new works. A new outfall pipe will also be constructed northwards from the new treatment works through rural land to the local burn.
The programme is on schedule for the new plant to be operational in Spring 2017.
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