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Background

In 1997, East of Scotland Water invited tenders to take the Esk Valley project forward using Private Finance Initiative funding. This project is one of EoSW's three major PFI projects currently being progressed in its area, as part of an £820m investment programme over the next 5 years to meet environmental legislation.

Stirling Water is a consortium made up from 3 major UK companies with many years experience in the water industry - Thames Water Utilities, M J Gleeson Group and Montgomery Watson. and has been selected as the preferred bidder for this £30m PFI scheme. Stirling Water will be working with EoSW to put its proposals through the planning process so that East Lothian, Midlothian and City of Edinburgh Councils and the communities affected can have their say.

Stirling Water's proposals for the catchment will mean that all of the regulations and regislation will be met and exceeded as well as increasing the capacity of the system to allow for future development in the area. The scheme will involve a number of elements:

• Upgrading various parts of the trunk sewer network to increase capacity and efficiency;
• Upgrading eight storm water works in the catchment with construction taking place at six;
• Wallyford Waste Water Treatment Works will become primarily a storm water works with an integral pumping station;
• Construction of a new rising main from Wallyford to meet the Eastern Interceptor Sewer going into Edinburgh waste water treatment works at Seafield.

Features

The capital need to implement this project will be raised by Stirling Water and is around £25m. Stirling Water will be paid by EoSW for providing the services based on the volume of waste water it processes. Payments are also dependent on Stirling Water meeting the environmental standards set out in the contract.

Benefits

• The proposals will ensure EoSW meet the high standards set by SEPA for discharges into the Esk and Forth, the East Lothian beaches will be cleaner and the Esk will be a cleaner river for leisure activities;
• Each of the sites where construction works are planned will benefit from improvements to their visual appearance;
• Using a pipeline to transport wastewater will reduce traffic;
• Odour treatment will reduce smells;
• Recycling treated sludge is a cost effective solution which provides a range of benefits by using a valuable resource to produces a high quality pellet or soil-like fertiliser for use on agricultural and other land.

Sponsor: East of Scotland Water
Contact: Allan Hill (01383 848 213)
Consortium: Stirling Water:
Contact: Gerry Winterbourne
Capital Cost: £20m
Contract Length: 30 years

Advisors to ESW
Project Managers: ESW Waterway Consultancy
Technical Advisors: Halcrow Crouch
Financial: PriceWaterhouseCoopers
Legal Advisers: Dundas & Wilson

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