Scottish Water have unveiled plans for a new £21 million state-of-the-art Waste Water Treatment Works upgrade in Winchburgh.

The utility has applied for planning permission to build a new and larger works on the edge of the town, next to the site of the current WwTW.

The current site has come to the end of its life and Scottish Water wants to build the new works to support the local community as it continues to grow and flourish.

The new works would make use of state-of-the-art Nereda technology which reduces energy usage by up to a half and treats wastewater more effectively. This will be only the second time this process has been used in Scotland. The first site was in Inverurie, near Aberdeen, which opened in December.

Award-winning Nereda technology treats waste water much faster than current treatments and takes away the need for pumps and mixers, meaning less energy and space is needed to treat a higher quantity of waste water. It also removes the need to use any chemicals during the treatment process which better protects the environment at local waterways.

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Scott Fraser, Corporate Affairs Manager at Scottish Water, said: "We plan to bring cutting edge technology to our customers which will provide not only a more efficient way of treating wastewater but one that improves the local environment. This also underlines our commitment to pursue new ways to lower our energy requirements, towards reaching our ambitious goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2040.

"This new works will provide sufficient capacity to support existing and proposed development in Winchburgh for the next decade and beyond."

If approved, the permanent works will be built by Scottish Water's alliance partner Efficient Service Delivery (ESD) and start operating by the end of 2022. Work would begin on this before the end of this year.

Prior to the permanent works being built, Scottish Water will next week start to build a temporary waste water treatment site south of Craigton Place and Niddry Burn. West Lothian Council has already given planning permission for these works, which will cost around £4 million, and will start operating in autumn.

The temporary site will be used for approximately two years while the new permanent works is built next to it. Once this is operating, the temporary site will be removed, and the land returned to use by the landowner.

Mr Fraser said: "The temporary works are needed to ensure there is sufficient capacity for all our customers in the area, where significant growth is already underway.

"There will be some restrictive parking in the car park next to the bowling community centre while this is being built. Some construction traffic will be moving through parts of the town, but this will be kept to a minimum as will the noise from equipment being used. Our customers' water supply and drainage services will not be affected.

"Scottish Water is committed to delivering these projects in Winchburgh with minimum disruption for customers in the area and we will do all we can to ensure this, continuing to speak to and update the community on this project throughout."

(MH/CM)