Last week, I met a senior engineer from Scottish Water for a site meeting on Douglas Terrace about the sewage leak on the beach, which I had first identified and reported to them at the beginning of October. This sewage pipe runs under the beach and close to the end of the raised walkway from Grassy Beach to Douglas Terrace. Out on my daily dog walk in last month, I could clearly see foul water leaking form the side of the concrete chamber which is buried in the beach with just the top protruding above the beach level.
After two repair attempts, the visible flow has been stopped. At low tide you can see what amounts to a rather ugly repair with splodges of concrete lining the top of the junction chamber. The engineer from Scottish Water and a Manager from Veolia Water, the maintenance contractor, confirmed that it's a difficult site where they can only work in the few hours either side of low tide.
At our meeting, I was assured that what had been done was indeed a temporary repair. I impressed on them the importance of making a permanent repair to the pipe. I was pleased to learn that an options appraisal is underway and that when the necessary permissions have been granted there will be a comprehensive replacement. This will need to be carefully planned because, while the old chamber and pipe is being dug up and replaced, a temporary bypass will need to be set up to divert the constant sewage and drainage water that flows down the pipe. They predicted a likely timescale of 6 months before the necessary permissions and contracts were in place and the more permanent repair is undertaken.
In the meanwhile, Violia staff are committed to monitoring the site to check for any new leaks breaking out and repairing these. I will also be keeping an eye on the site as I walk by every morning.
I have also written to the City Engineer to ask him to liaise with Scottish Water on the timing for the replacement of this length of sewer so that this does not clash with the the upgrading of the coastal pathway as both operations will require access to the beach down the same slipway.
