Scottish Water is getting ready to start work next week on a two year major multi-million pound investment project to help reduce the risk of sewer flooding in Pittenweem.
Photo: Aerial view of Pittenweem coats line
The work involves the upgrading of new and improved wastewater infrastructure, including a new long sea outfall, Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) chambers, upgraded power supply to the existing waste water pumping station and upgraded pipework.
The first phase of the project will start in the East Shore area of the village where the existing CSO will be upgraded with a new powered screen, which will reduce the risk of items such as wet wipes and sanitary products from ending up in the environment during times of heavy rain. In addition, a new outfall will be installed which will take existing overflow from the inner harbour further out to sea. This phase of the project is expected to take around 5 months to complete.
Scott Fraser, Scottish Water’s Corporate Affairs Manager, said:
“This is an important investment for Pittenweem. The village has had a long history of sewer flooding so it is great to see this project start on site.
“We appreciate that there will be periods of disruption during the construction and we will try to minimise this where possible. This is a really challenging project as we are working in areas with tide movements, limited space for vehicle movements placing major constraints on our work.”
Scottish Water is looking to address flooding in 3 main areas of Pittenweem –The West Shore, East Shore and Seaview Row. Historically, the area has been prone to sewer flooding during times of heavy rainfall.
Following discussions with community and committing to minimize the visual impact of the outfall as much as possible, the water company will be able to construct the new outfall so it is fully buried underground.
With the UK government demanding a 50% reduction in storm overflow spills by 2029, the era of reactive management is over. Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 July 2025, then environment secretary Steve Reed said, “This Government will cut water companies’ sewage pollution in half by the end of the decade.”
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