Multi-million pound water supply investment onstream

A multi-million pound Scottish Water investment on Islay is now onstream after a marathon journey across land and sea and months of on-site testing.

A Transportable Treatment Unit (TTU) is now connected to the network supplying nearly 2,000 customers in the Bowmore and Port Ellen areas.

Georgina Reid, Scottish Water’s corporate affairs regional manager, said: ‘The new unit is now supplying an additional 70,000 litres of clear, fresh drinking water a day. This £2.5 million investment is just part of our ongoing programme of works for Islay to provide capacity for future housing developments but also resilience and improvements to the existing network.’

The unit boosts the 810,000 litres already supplied from the existing Torra Water Treatment Works on the island. A new pipe bridge across the River Torra has been constructed to support a short section of the two kilometres – around 1.2 miles – of new raw water main installed north of the water treatment works.

Work is also starting on a £3 million project in Bowmore, to replace four miles of water mains in the town’s streets over the next 18 months.