Scottish Water has embarked on a significant £10 million project to restore over 500 hectares of peatland in East Ayrshire. This ambitious initiative, centered around Afton Reservoir near New Cumnock, is the largest peatland restoration scheme undertaken by the utility company to date.

The project, divided into two phases, aims to revitalize the degraded peatlands by closing drainage ditches through a process known as 'zippering'. This technique will enable the land to retain water, promoting the growth of healthy peatland and preventing erosion.

The first phase, covering nearly 300 hectares, is scheduled for completion by the end of the year. The second phase will commence in November and continue over two seasons, with the entire project expected to be finalized by the end of 2025.

By restoring these peatlands, Scottish Water seeks to improve water quality, reduce carbon emissions, and enhance biodiversity. This initiative aligns with the company's commitment to environmental sustainability and its role in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

-- Advertisement --

Scottish Water project manager, Alan MacDonald, said: "The work we are doing here will reduce the organic matter that is feeding into the reservoir, ensuring the quality of our source water remains high and making the job of treating it less time consuming and costly."

He added: "When peat dries out, it erodes and releases carbon. This project will mean water is held within the land, helping the peatland to restore to its natural state and allowing it to capture carbon very effectively.

"There are drains all over these hillsides and they were obviously there for a purpose – to dry the land. Sometimes that was ahead of forestry work, sometimes that was to dry the land where sheep were being grazed.

"But with the increasing need to cut carbon emissions due to the climate emergency, drying out of hillsides is not what we want to do so we’re putting back to nature what man did.

"These projects will make a key contribution to our own net zero journey locking up carbon, supporting biodiversity and helping the Scottish Government’s targets for peatland restoration in Scotland. They are also vital in making our water sources more resilient to future climate change."

Craig MacDonald, sub agent with contractor George Leslie, said: "Zippering is much like the zipper of a hoodie where you take blocks of peat with the turf intact and you dig the excavator’s bucket in a zipper like fashion, and pull it in towards each other - this stitches together the existing drain line of the peat which generates the water to come to the surface and return it more to a bog."

Afton Reservoir is six miles south of New Cumnock and is fed by a sizeable catchment area drawing water from all the surrounding hills. The land here drains into the reservoir, with the water taken to a treatment works in Afton before it goes on to supply much of Ayrshire.