Lagoons to treat quarry water

Silty water from cleaning up to 12 million tonnes of rock at a Lochaber quarry will be channelled into three lagoons over the next 30 years, Highland councillors agreed yesterday.

Three 400m long “finger” lagoons will be created in the upper valley of the western part of Glensanda Quarry in Morvern for the longterm management of water wash-off from cleaning quarried stone.

The water will be pumped to the lagoons and the silt it contains will settle naturally, leaving the water clean.

A weir will be built to catch the channelled clean water from the lagoons. Water will be fed through a pipeline to a small power house to provide electricity for the quarry.

Each lagoon will take a

“The hydro scheme is an environmental advantage”

year to build, and have a lifetime of 10 years.

Peat extracted from the quarrying of the lagoons will be set aside and ultimately used for restoration after the silt has settled.

Highland councillors were told the site will be visible to Lismore island and Argyll, but doesn’t have an impact on special landscape areas north and south or any designated sites.

Councillors also considered concerns by Scottish Natural Heritage about the lack of information provided by quarry owner Yeoman Glensanda and operator Aggregate Industries on the environmental impact of extracting peat to a depth of up to two meters.

Lochaber councillor Niall McLean said: “I support this development due to the economic and environmental advantage to the quarry to deal with suspended silts in the water, and the hydro scheme is an added environmental advantage.” A run-down corner block in central Inverness will be redeveloped into a modern retail and residential building.

Highland councillors yesterday approved proposals for the development on the site at the corner of Academy Street and School Lane, formerly a Farmfoods store.

The building will include four small retail units at street level, and 19 onebedroom flats and 18 twobeds on the upper floors.

The homes are classed as “affordable midmarket