A £49m Scottish Water project at Meadowhead will reduce overflow from combined sewers in Kilmarnock and Irvine spilling into the local river system during heavy storms. At the same time, it will mean environmental improvement to local rivers and to the coastal waters of Irvine Bay in the Firth of Clyde.
As part of the project Asset International in partnership with KWH Pipe UK provided a 10,000m³ attenuation tank and 300 metres of pipework in 2.1 metre nominal diameter. The tank is capable of holding 10 million litres of water, and features 16 legs of 2.6 diameter pipes, comprising around 2km of pipework in total.
“The long established partnership between KWH Pipe (UK) Ltd, the Scottish Water framework supplier for large diameter Polyethylene pipework systems and Asset International, the UK licensee for the manufacture of Weholite products, has led to the successful installation of what is the largest ever Weholite storage tank supplied and installed anywhere in the world,” said George Merry, managing director of KWH.
A tank of such scale is big enough to contain storm water flow in the event of a large amount of rain fall, allowing Scottish Water to meet European Union directives. The smooth invert provided by the Weholite system was crucial to the project.
The project is being delivered by MBV, a joint venture of Morrison and Black & Veatch which designed the system so that the retained storm water is directed into a new pipe and channelled to the Meadowhead Treatment Works. From there it is managed to ensure bathing water quality standards in the Irvine Bay are met.
Dominic Moynihan, project manager for MBV, explained: “A number of things directed us to Weholite. Firstly, the fact that it gave us a smooth invert without the need for further treatment. Secondly, Weholite offered an installation service, which meant that the same engineers who had manufactured the pipes were the ones installing them on site. Their knowledge and expertise ensured the product gave us the performance designed to meet our specifications. It also meant that the whole installation process has been pretty much trouble free.”
