Thousands of people in the Lochwinnoch and Kilmacolm areas are to benefit from two key Scottish Water projects with a combined value of £1.5m that will help provide clearer, fresher drinking water.

Scottish Water is about to start a £300,000 project to carry out substantial improvement work at the Kaim Water Treatment Works (WTW), which serves 7000 people.

The project, which is expected to be completed by about September, will involve the installation of a new dosing system to improve water quality.

Scottish Water is also about to start a £1.2m project to upgrade more than 30 miles of water mains in the area which takes the water from the WTW to customers’ taps.

The project on the network of pipes had been due to start last winter but the main part of the work was re-prioritised due to design issues and operational reasons.

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Mr Jim Hassan, Scottish Water’s water operations manager for the area, said: "Scottish Water is very pleased to be starting these two important projects in the area which will ensure we continue to provide a first-class service to customers in Lochwinnoch and Kilmacolm and surrounding areas.

"Scottish Water is committed to continue our drive to keep providing clearer, fresher drinking water to customers throughout the area. Our new investment in the network of pipes will build on previous upgrade work at Kaim WTW."

The new project at the Kaim WTW will be carried out by contractors Ross-shire Engineers Ltd for Scottish Water Solutions, a joint venture partnership between Scottish Water and some of the world’s leading construction, engineering and water companies.

Mr David Kitching, Scottish Water’s construction manager for the project at the WTW, said: "All of this work will be carried out on-site and there will be no disruption to normal services or local road traffic. We are utilising existing space at the WTW to retro-fit the new dosing system which means we are able to reduce the construction costs."

The project to upgrade the network of pipes will be carried out by contractors Barhale and will include a total of about 5.5 miles of lining. This is likely to involve open excavations on sections of pipe which will be cleaned using a rig to coat the inside of the pipe with a new membrane which will provide structural and water quality improvements.

The work will also include about 23 miles of flushing, a method of cleaning existing pipes using high water pressure to dislodge any sediment build-up in the pipe.

(GK)