Scottish Water have announced that construction is set to begin on a new £25 million water treatment facility in Peebles.

The new works on the outskirts of the historic town will ensure the utility can continue to provide clear, fresh, high quality drinking water to customers in Peebles and Eddleston. The new Water Treatment Works (WTW) will be built in the field to the south of the existing works on Bonnington Road.

Preparatory work will start on Monday December 7 when three trees, which are in poor condition, will be removed for safety reasons and the new site access will be made. During this time part of Bonnington Road – between the existing Scottish Water site and Castleknowe Road – will be closed for approximately five days – to Friday December 11.

After this work is done the team will be back on site in early 2021 to begin constructing the new works, which are due for completion at the end of 2022. The work will be carried out by Scottish Water alliance partners Amey and Ross-shire Engineering.

Scott Fraser, Corporate Affairs Manager at Scottish Water, said: "This major investment will deliver long-term, sustainable WTW that meets the needs of present and future generations.

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"We decided the best option to ensure continued high quality drinking water for our customers in in the area is to build a new works, rather than try and upgrade and the current works which have been in place for around 50 years.

"The area will continue to be supplied by raw water from Megget reservoir, the current source for drinking water.

"The new works has been designed to have as little visual and environmental impact as possible. We will be looking to include renewable energy sources at the site and to offset the delivery of materials and energy used to make the materials, to help Scottish Water reach its ambitious zero carbon target."

The Peebles site will be the first in Scotland to use a new high-quality treatment process. The main process used by Scottish Water to treat drinking water involves passing raw water through membranes which filter out larger organic compounds while allowing clean water molecules to pass through fine pores. The water that has passed through the membranes is then treated further to ensure it meets customers' expectations and is safe to drink from the tap.

The new ceramic membrane treatment to be used at Peebles provides a very high quality water treatment and also the associated equipment  takes up less room meaning it is housed in a smaller building with less energy use and costs. Another advantage of this technology is the ability to build parts of the kit off-site to reduce the amount of construction traffic needed.

Scottish Water will continue to work with and keep the community updated as the project progresses. Once Covid guidance eases Scottish Water will engage with local school children on this exciting engineering project and use it to help educate youngsters on the water cycle.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Scottish Water and its supply chain partners have continued to work around the clock to keep customers supplied with water and treat the country's waste water, while ensuring the health and safety of customers and its staff are effectively managed in line with Government guidance or legislation.

Scottish Water has pledged to deliver net zero emissions by 2040 – five years ahead of the national target.