A £2.6m upgrade to sections of the 45km-long Talla Aqueduct has been completed.

The aqueduct, which was constructed in Victorian times, is used to supply most of Edinburgh's drinking water. It takes water from the Talla and Fruid reservoirs in the Scottish Borders to Glencorse Water Treatment Works which opened in 2012.

For most of its length, the structure runs as a tunnel, and is split by a number of bridges and siphons. It can take up to 127 megalitres of water each day.

The ambitious project involved repairs being carried out to the bridges plus some structural repairs to the aqueduct. In addition, new valves and flooring was installed in the chambers which will help to safeguard its future and the security of water supply to customers.

George Leslie Ltd was responsible for carrying out the work on behalf of Scottish Water and it took 10 months to complete the project.

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Bill Elliot, Scottish Water's Community Team Manager for Edinburgh and the Lothians, said: "Drinking water in Edinburgh is treated to the highest standard at the £130 million Glencorse Water Treatment Works, one of the most modern and impressive water treatment works in the UK, which supplies drinking water to hundreds of thousands of customers across Edinburgh and parts of Midlothian. But before the water reaches Glencorse, it runs through the Talla Aqueduct which was created between 1895 and 1905.

"The Aqueduct has stood the test of time and continues to serve the people of Edinburgh well, and this investment by Scottish Water, improving its internal fabric as a result of repairs, new valves and chamber flooring, will help ensure Scottish Water provide the best possible customer service for our Edinburgh customers in the years to come."

Simon Renton, Project Manager, added: "Visual inspections of the tunnel and its associated chambers in recent years had identified the need to carry out some work to refurbish parts of the tunnel to ensure it could continue to serve the people of Edinburgh well into the future.

"The aqueduct and its function was maintained during the works to ensure continuous uninterrupted raw water supply to Glencorse Water Treatment Works. George Leslie Ltd and their piling sub-contractor MG Piling should be commended on their work to a critical raw water supply asset and their inventive use of a working platform arrangement for the piling."

(JP/MH)