SEPA has welcomed the initial commissioning of the sewage improvement scheme serving Dundee, Broughty Ferry, Monifieth, Carnoustie and Arbroath. The £100million Tay Wastewater Project is set to deliver major water quality improvements as it progressively comes on stream over the next few weeks.

Colin Anderson, SEPA Dundee Area Team Leader said: "The very first steps in this project were taken 5 years ago when SEPA set out the water quality improvements which were required. The whole project has been designed to deliver these improvements.

“The coastline from Invergowrie to Arbroath has been plagued for decades with the presence of sewage related debris and intermittently poor microbiological water quality at beaches such as Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie. The project has been modelled and designed to remove all sewage related debris from discharging to the receiving waters under normal conditions. In addition, the beaches at Broughty Ferry and Monifieth should be able to meet at least the mandatory standards contained in the Bathing Waters Directive whilst the designated beaches at Carnoustie and Arbroath should meet the tighter guideline standards.

“The current situation is that the pumping stations serving central and eastern Dundee, Broughty Ferry, Monifieth, Carnoustie and Arbroath are now operational and they are pumping sewage to the new plant at Hatton for treatment. The treatment process at Hatton has been matured and the final effluent quality is good. The pumping station serving western Dundee should be operational in a matter of weeks with only a small number of fairly minor sewer diversions and one storm tank installation continuing for a few months.

“We need to be cautious, however. As the whole scheme is an enormous engineering undertaking there will doubtless be teething problems before the scheme is fully commissioned. It is also inevitable that sewage debris, which has been discharged historically from approximately 30 old outfalls over the years, may still be washed up for some time to come.

“However, this should not overshadow the improvements being made. Before this scheme, every day nearly 13 million gallons of untreated or partially treated sewage was directly discharging to the Tay Estuary and Angus coastline. The new scheme will provide full biological treatment for the sewage effluent and approximately 8 million gallons of storage for storm sewage before any discharge takes place at the pumping stations. SEPA’s task now will be to closely monitor and regulate the operation of the scheme to ensure that the water quality improvements are delivered as planned".


ENDS

Notes:

1. Colin Anderson is available for interview. Please contact Louise Fyfe, SEPA Public Relations Officer, on 0131 499 7296 or the out of hours pager on 07644 071918 to arrange.

2. The SEPA website: www.sepa.org.uk carries the 2001 bathing water monitoring results, which are updated each week. The full reports from the past five years can also be found on the website.

3. Further information about the designation of bathing waters can be found on the Scottish Executive’s website: www.scotland.gov.uk

4. Local Authorities are responsible for keeping beaches free from litter and for displaying notices providing information on water quality.