A major project being undertaken by Scottish Water in the East Renfrewshire area is continuing to progress, the utility provider has confirmed.

A total of £120 million is being invested in the drinking water network which serves customers in Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire.

The first phase of the project is the installation of a 13 mile-long section of water main from near Newton Mearns to the Fenwick/Waterside area. The route of this section of main, which goes over mainly farmland and open moorland, commences at Waulkmill Glen reservoir near Newton Mearns in the north and goes south via Drumboy Hill, close to the M77 and A77 to Amlaird Water Treatment Works near Fenwick, with branches to the South Moorhouse and Corsehouse water treatment works.

As a key stage of this installation, Scottish Water's alliance partner, Caledonia Water Alliance, has been tunnelling underneath a railway line near Barrhead, East Renfrewshire to enable a stretch of pipe to be installed. This work started in late July/early August.

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Using a Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM), two parallel sections of concrete water main are being installed over a distance of around 85 metres each beneath the railway line to the south of Barrhead.

Another engineering challenge on the same phase will see Scottish Water using special geological engineering techniques to install a 2.5-mile long stretch of the water main where its route goes across peat bogland on Fenwick Moor to the south. This route was also unavoidable due to the location of the Amlaird Water Treatment Works and the need to gravity feed water to the facility.

Stewart Davis, Scottish Water's Programme Manager, said: "The geological make- up of the area between Amlaird WTW and a tank at Drumboy is predominantly peat bog, which is between 500mm and six metres deep.

"The peat, by its nature, is a soft and wet material which does not have the competent geological structure to support a steel pipe which weighs four tonnes per 13 metre length when full of water.

"So our engineering solution was to excavate to competent clay type soil and then fill the ground back up again with imported stone to provide a competent structure to lay the pipe on."

Mr Davis added: "The work on the peatland on Fenwick Moor, and under the railway line near Barrhead, have presented us with major engineering challenges but we have met or are meeting those challenges head-on and progressing well with this important first phase of the overall project."

(JP/CD)