Scottish Water's new flood prevention scheme

The projects, which involved a total investment of more than £16m, will reduce the risk of flooding which has affected 34 properties in the Elmvale Row area and 13 in the Avonspark Street area nearby.

The £12.5m Elmvale Row project included the installation of two giant storage tanks, providing 13,500 cubic metres of storm water storage in the sewer network to alleviate the surcharging of the sewer system.

The tanks, which were pictured from a 140 feet tall crane during their construction, are now invisible to people at ground level after the grassy area that existed before the project began was reinstated and prepared for landscaping and the installation of public paths and shrubbery in due course.

Properties in the Elmvale Row area have experienced recurring problems with flooding for a number of years, including flooding to garages, car parks and roadways.

The risk of this happening again has been substantially reduced with the completion of the two-year project, which is part of Scottish Water’s investment to improve river water quality in the River Clyde and its tributaries and alleviate sewer flooding.

To minimise the risk of flooding, amey Black & Veatch, Scottish Water’s delivery partners, installed new storm storage that included the two large circular tanks, which are each about 25 metres (82 feet) in diameter and 18 metres (60 feet) deep.

Pumps were installed in the tanks to form a storm return system which will return the storm water stored in the tanks back into the sewer system once the storm conditions have abated. A control kiosk was installed beside the tanks.

The project also included the upsizing of about 400 metres of waste water pipes in Elmvale Row, Elmvale Street, Ratho Drive, Fernbank Street and Hawthorn Street.

More than 12,000 tonnes of material, including rock, was removed from the project site to level the ground before construction started.

The final stages of work included the installation of channel kerbs in Elmvale Row and Fernbank Street, which have created additional storage capacity for excess rain water from the road gullies.

Meanwhile, Scottish Water and aBV have also completed a £4m project to tackle flooding that has affected properties in Avonspark Street and Edgefauld Road.

The project, which started in September 2015, included the installation of a 2,500 cubic metre capacity storm water storage tank in the sewer network to alleviate the surcharging of the system. The tank is 20 metres in diameter and 16 metres below ground level.

Chris Wilcock, a flooding team leader with Scottish Water, said: “Scottish Water is delighted to have completed these two very important projects, which are key parts of our overall investment in our waste water infrastructure across the Greater Glasgow area.

“We are 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 and Avonspark Street areas have suffered from recurring flooding over a number of years and we fully appreciate the inconvenience this can cause. We know that affected customers will welcome the completion of improvements to our network in the area.”

Scottish Water’s work caused some unavoidable inconvenience and disruption for local residents and staff and pupils at Elmvale Primary School, which is adjacent to the Elmvale Row project site. A section of Edgefauld Road at the Avonspark Street project site was closed for the duration of the project there.

Joanna Peebles Scottish Water’s regional communities team manager, said: “It was impossible to carry out this sort of work without some disruption at both project sites, particularly when a large amount of rock had to be removed at Elmvale Row.

“But we did everything we could to minimise any inconvenience and we kept local residents and road-users informed of our work and liaised closely with them as the work progressed. We would like to thank all affected residents at both projects for their patience and understanding during our work.

”The completion of the projects will give local residents peace of mind that the risk of flooding in the future has been substantially reduced.”

The projects are part of Scottish Water’s 2015-21 Business Plan commitment to remove all customers from the internal sewer flooding register (those with a 10% or greater chance of flooding occurring per annum) as quickly as possible and typically within four years.

Scottish Water has alliance partners to deliver upgrades, maintenance and new infrastructure assets for the people of Scotland in the 2015-21 investment period. aBV Alliance, a partnership of Amey and Black and Veatch, is Scottish Water’s waste water infrastructure alliance partner.