Water
chiefs ‘grasp nettle’ to rid village of its pong
As reported on Border Today:
THE infamous Cardrona pong is set to become a smell of the past
after Scottish Water announced this week that work on a £500,000
upgrade of the waste-water treatment works, serving the 300 households
of Peeblesshire’s “new settlement”, is under
way, writes Andrew Keddie.
“I am absolutely delighted that Scottish Water has finally
grasped the nettle after years of pressure from Cardrona residents,”
said Councillor Gavin Logan (Tweeddale East).
“In the four years I have been a councillor, I have received
many complaints about the smell from the reed-bed sewage plant
at the east of the village and close to the River Tweed.
“As a member of the planning committee, I have been successful
in having a condition applied to recent housing developments to
stop them taking place until the plant was upgraded.
“It’s great news that these long-awaited improvements
are now going to take place.”
The inadequacy of the current waste-water treatment facility
was recently highlighted by Brian McCrow, chairman of the Cardrona
Residents’ Association.
“There are issues with the capacity of the sewage plant,”
said Mr McCrow. “Scottish Water has told me it is working
at a theoretical capacity of 92 per cent, but cannot comment on
the facility’s performance as it has no measuring method.
By any standards, 92 per cent is too high.”
The work, which is due for completion in the late summer, will
involve the construction of a new inlet pumping station to remove
ground water from the treatment equation, the existing equipment
having been damaged by the rising water table during heavy rainfall.
Further modifications to the reed-bed process will improve the
distribution of flows.
The project is being delivered by Solutions, a joint venture
partnership between the water quango and leading construction
and engineering companies.
Mark Keast, construction manager for the Cardrona project, told
us: “This is a significant investment for a community with
a population now in excess of 1,300. It will improve the long-term
performance of the works as well as the natural environment of
the majestic River Tweed for many years to come.”
Morag Stark, general manager of the MacDonald Hotel in Cardrona,
said: “This will benefit not only the village but the many
visitors who come to fish each year.”
Back in February, Scottish Borders Council’s watchdog scrutiny
panel, at the insistence of Clovenfords Community Council, agreed
to review the thorny issue of the region’s sewage infrastructure.
“It seems there are problems all over the Borders with
many old sewage disposal systems no longer having the capacity
to cope with additional housing developments,” said Councillor
Logan.
“Scrutiny is due to hold its hearing on this hot topic
in August so councillors will now have one less problem to worry
about.”
Contact Probe on 0191 251 1888 or e-mail info@probeindustries.co.uk
forinformation on how to control sewage odours.
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