Scottish Water £12m Glasgow flood prevention work starts

Scottish Water decided to spend £12.4m on an improvement scheme following repeated flooding after 34 properties in Elmvale Row suffered flooded garages, car parks and roadways over a number of years.

The project is part of a £250m, five year programme of work which will improve the river quality and the natural environment of the River Clyde.

Scottish Water says the work will allow the Greater Glasgow area to grow and develop, ease flooding of sewers and deal with the effects of increased rainfall from climate change.

The work at Elmvale Row involves installing 13,500 cubic meters of storm water storage into the sewer network to stop the sewer system flooding.

Gary Craig, Scottish Water’s environmental asset planning team leader, said: “Scottish water is committed to doing all we can to help communities and customers by playing our part in tackling flooding and dealing with the impact of heavy rainfall.

“A number of properties in the Elmvale Row area have suffered from recurring flooding over a number of years and we fully appreciate the inconvenience this can cause.

“We know affected customers will welcome our improvements to our network in the area.”

The new storm drainage will include two large circular tanks, which will each be about 82ft wide and 60ft deep.

The tanks, which will be installed in open ground next to Elmvale Road, will provide storage in the combined sewer network to avoid surcharging in storm conditions.

Pumps will be installed in the tanks to create a system which will return storm water stored in the tanks back into the sewer system once the storm conditions have abated.

The work will also include increased the size of waste water pipes in Elmvale Row, Elmvale Street, Ratho Drive, Fernbank Street and Hawthorne Street.

A significant amount of rock, which is about 43ft below the ground, will have to be removed from the site resulting in work talking around two yeas to complete.

Mark Maclaren, Scottish water’s regional communities team manager, said: “There will be general construction traffic noise and dust along the project and noise from the excavation of rock.

“It is impossible to carry out this sort of work without some disruption particularly when a large amount or rock has to be removed,k but we will do everything we can to minimise any inconvenience and we will keep local residents and road users informed of our work and will liaise with them as the work progresses.