A £30 million project to improve services, and ensure high quality drinking water to more than 54,000 people in parts of Bearsden, Milngavie, Clydebank and Strathblane, will be carried out for Scottish Water by its partners Caledonia Water Alliance (CWA). It is expected this work will take around two years to complete.
The project will change the source of the water supply from the ageing Burncrooks Water Treatment Works (WTW) in West Stirlingshire to the state-of-the-art Milngavie WTW in East Dunbartonshire.
The works will involve the installation of around 8 miles of new water main, the transfer of supply to Milngavie WTW and the decommissioning of Burncrooks WTW.
Burncrooks WTW, in the Kilpatrick Hills near Strathblane, was built in the late 1950s and has served the area well. But it's reaching the end of its working life and is not suitable in the long-term to meet stringent water quality standards.
The state-of-the-art Milngavie WTW was opened in 2007 and already serves about 700,0000 across much of the Greater Glasgow area.
The project will enable the provision of high-quality water to thousands of domestic properties and businesses and a large number of public buildings including more than 30 schools in three local authority areas, and the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank.
The investment will also enable Scottish Water to supply customers with water from more than one WTW which will provide improved resilience and reduce the risk of disruption to normal water supplies.
The main 4.3 miles section of new plastic twin-pipe water main will be installed from Bankell Service Reservoir in the east, to Baljaffray Service Reservoir in the west, following a route up part of Strathblane Road, west along the north of Craigmaddie Reservoir, round the north and west of Mugdock Reservoir, down Mugdock Road to Drumclog Car Park.
It will continue across the south of Mugdock Country Park, crossing the West Highland Way over the Allander Water near Clober, crossing the A809 just south of Craigton village, to Baljaffray Service Reservoir.
The total of 8 miles of water main will also include a second stretch of 3.5 miles of 250ml pipe, to be installed from near Baljaffray to Carbeth, where it will connect to the existing network.
This new plastic main will replace an existing stretch of old 21 inch main, which has a history of bursts, and will provide improved security of supply.
More than 80% of the pipe route will be installed on private land, rather than under public roads and footpaths, to reduce inconvenience to the public.
For more information on the project visit Scottish Water project page: Burncrooks Water Improvements
