For Argyll has reported before on the outcome to Scottish Water‘s first attempt at installing a waste water treatment plant for Campbeltown. This saw Campbeltown Loch fill with raw sewage to the point where, at low tide, it cannot have been other than a public health hazard. Local businesses were angry at the impact on yachts visiting the marina, on fishing and on all business activities using the pier.

Scottish Water produced a proposed solution to lay a rising main along Low Askomil beach. Project Manager Eddie Burns says of this: ‘At a Scottish Water Open Day in Campbeltown in November, local residents continued to express their concerns about the rising main route along the beach, which was our preferred option at the time. Their concerns focused on two main areas, namely:

• the congested nature of the foreshore at present
• the potential for damage and delays to the Low Askomil Road’

At the close of this meeting  Scottish Water promised to have a rapid review of options open to it in the timeframe available for the work.

The company is now proposing to use a route beneath the sea for a rising main which will form a key part of improvements to the waste water network in Campbeltown.

A new 2.6km stretch of rising main, designed to help tackle the problem of waste water discharge flooding in the town, will include a 1.6km sub-sea section beneath Campbeltown Loch.

The rising main will increase the volume of waste water received at the Slaty Farlan Waste Water Treatment Works from the Kinloch Park pumping station.

Using the sub-sea route for the rising main will benefit residents in the Low Askomil area in a number of ways:

• less disruption in terms of traffic management, access to properties and noise
• no damage to the sea wall and property walls
• significantly reduced construction time because the beach work would have been dependent on tides
• less rock excavation.

Eddie Burns says that the company is now: ‘… confident that this decision to install the rising main under the sea will be well received by Campbeltown residents and particularly those in the Low Askomil area.