Tobermory to get fresher drinking water and a more secure supply in new Scottish Water project

Scottish Water have announced a £50,000 project for Loch Peallach, which is used as a reservoir and is connected via an inlet pipe to the Tobermory Water Treatment Works serving the villages and surrounding areas.

This will replace the current intake pipe at Loch Peallach with a new longer pipe going deeper into the loch. The new 49m long plastic pipe, and the increased depth it will reach will together help provide clearer, fresher drinking water for Tobermory, benefitting local residents, businesses and visitors to the area.

It will also improve the security of the water supply. This is particularly critical in the summer months when reservoir levels can be low and the influx of visitors doubles the population of the town.

Scottish Water’s sub-contractors on the project, Ross-shire Black and Veatch, have now started work and should, weather permitting,  have completed the project before the end of December. Their Project manager Gordon MacKay says: ‘The project started in the past few days and a diving sub-contractor has removed the old pipe before installing the new 6″ diameter pipe. There will be minimal disruption to the water supply to the water treatment works during this project as storage tanks there will be used.’

The project is part of Scottish Water’s 2010 Vision for Argyll & Bute – a huge  two-year investment programme running from Coll in the north to Campbeltown in the south. This will deliver a more secure supply of clearer, fresher drinking water for residents and for the hundreds of thousands of tourists who visit one of Scotland’s most beautiful regions every year.

Christopher Toop, Scottish Water’s regional manager, says: ‘This is a relatively small project but, when complete, it will substantially improve the service we provide to customers in the Tobermory area, particularly in the summer months when in periods of low rainfall the reservoir levels can be low and this can affect water quality and supply. The project is also a good example of how Scottish Water is investing throughout Argyll & Bute in some of the smallest and most remote parts of the area. We are forward-thinking and proactive and determined to improve our already high levels of service in communities throughout the country, large or small, urban or rural’.