Thurso East Sewerage Plant

[concerned resident]

Attended public session in Thurso town hall, for Scottish waters new sewerage treatment
plant at Thurso East, only one of the staff would acknowledge there was a problem with the plant at Wick, all the rest did not know of any problem with the wick plant, or any other plant in Scotland, to do with smell or location. (ignorance is bliss) The Thurso plant
will only have a slight smell, as it says so on printed paper.
The Sewerage plant will be visual from the sea, but you won't notice it much, and by then it will be up and built, and to late, and they will have long since disappeared to the south, they have probably have already. The only people who can get this project, relocated to a more suitable site is our councillors, so i don't hold out much hope.
When the ferry or the odd cruiser is coming into Thurso bay, you may hear a tourist saying, what stupid people let a sewerage treatment plant be built at the entrance to their beautiful bay. (just being polite) They may have to hold their nose, as they will see
it , but they may also be smelling it.

[crayola]

I agree with you. Lets all drive over to thurso and tell the residents what we have to put up with here in wick. Not that I'm in wick this month but I will be back soon.

[JAWS]

Lynne, I agree with everything you say, and I think we should encourage actual residents of Thurso to do something about it.

[lynne duncan]

I can't quite visualise where they intend to place the thurso plant but if wick is anything to go by there must be someone in Scottish water who takes great delight in spoiling the arrival of visitors and locals to where ever they are going. ie the wick one is under the path of arriving planes, instead of welcome to wick all you get is 2 open sewerage tanks what a sight to behold!!!!

[concerned resident]

As described in the Scottish Water leaflet which i was given at Thurso town hall on Tuesday evening. A wastewater treatment plant (WwTP) at new site at east thurso apptoximately 1.5kms from existing headworks.
Existing headworks is on the old harbour at Thurso. (near to fish shop) This is also being
altered. The new treatment plant is further out on the point, past the castle.When its
dark, and you come in on the ferry, the first property lite up will be the sewerage plant, and the second will be Thurso castle.
Hope this is of some help.

[crayola]

i phoned Scottish Water again this morning . spoke to a woman who said she was already dealing with a stroppy wifie from wick and thurso, and said the site for the wwtp in thurso was not yet finalised Wasn't put off by this and isnisted on speaking to a manger . Said they would phone me back but have heard nothing since, so not at all happy.
i am not giving up so easily.

[jb]

Also visited drop in session. Asked about smell and all they would say was its 500m from the nearest house so no problem. When asked if covering any of the tanks reply was NO, when asked what the odour control system covered reply was very cagy and eventually forced him to say it is only on the sewage cake treatment facility and no where else. As i beleive it, but i may be wrong, its the tanks at Wick that are smelling. He also said a well run plant doesnot smell - when asked if he was saying Wick was not well run he backed down and said he did not know the facts in Wick - truth is the lady with the red hair at the thurso event is the one trying to sort out the Wick problem.
When asked what about the smell from the new underground pumping chamber was told it would be less than the exisiting plant. The new pumping system is also only sized for a '3dry' size with a 315 mm pumping main. Normally they are sized for a '6dry' or twice the amount of water. Any excess water would be screened and pumped out of the exisiting pipeline. They were also very cagy about how often the excess would be pumped out the old system. When asked about arrangements to remove the pumps from the new pumping chamber, in the middle of the carpark, they said just hook on the crane and away you go!! I said what about the smell etc from distrubing the sludge in the bottom of the chamber and cleaning the pump down prior to removal from the chamber? They had not thought about that?/ Whan asked whay they had put in a new control building and not used the old one they didnot know what room was in the old one??
This shows a very poor design process which makes you wonder what they are spending there, sorry our money on!
Some one should investigate the design of this plant before as has been said they make another mess of it and walk off in to the sunset with there pockets full of our money!!

JB

[concerned resident]

The people who were answering the questions, were not employed by Scottish Water,
Because I mentioned to one of them, about Scottish Water and if they sold cars, with their track record, they would not be trading, and have gone bankrupt, and that it was only that she was employed by a Quango that she still had a job. I was then told that they were not employee’s of Scottish Water, but employee’s of a company, sounded like resolutions, owned by Scottish Water and some other Water companies from down south,
And just up for this job. They only answered the questions asked, with the answers that they had prepared earlier. Anything else they answered with they didn’t know (Not very truthful) didn’t want to answer was probley the reason. If any of our Councillors went to the public session they probley swallowed it hook, line, and sinker. I think I did see a councillors name in the comments book, signed and OK, so it will be the next to get the rubber stamp of consent, if they don’t watch it they will be replaced with the rubber stamp, and nobody will have noticed.

[daviddd]

The people who were answering the questions, were not employed by Scottish Water,
Because I mentioned to one of them, about Scottish Water and if they sold cars, with their track record, they would not be trading, and have gone bankrupt, and that it was only that she was employed by a Quango that she still had a job. I was then told that they were not employee’s of Scottish Water, but employee’s of a company, sounded like resolutions, owned by Scottish Water.... Scottish Water Solutions - I think they focus on the construction of new plants while Scottish Water proper (yer local crew) do all the maintenance.

Most of the arguments here are not valid, the new plant will not blight the landscape and will hardly be noticed from the Firth. It certainly won't put tourists off, that's just silly IMHO. The main effect, if any, I reckon, will be the smell if the organisation aren't able to come up with a solution to this problem, which is a problem all over Scotland. Thurso will get it in an easterly and Murkle inna westerly - this is the issue that people should be consentrating on. And everyone seems to forget that evey time you go to the loo you are adding to the problem - do we want to go back to just doing it behind a hedge? Get real, people!

[concerned resident]

Daviddd wrote: quote

Most of the arguments here are not valid, the new plant will not blight the landscape and will hardly be noticed from the Firth. It certainly won't put tourists off, that's just silly IMHO.

I wish i could have come away from Scottish Waters public session in the town hall, believing, half what they said, There are several buildings around 20m high and they are not digging a big hole, and the contour of the land, isn’t much, they are putting a 3m high grass mound to the north and east of the plant. Maths was not my best subject, but it still leaves a lot to stick out.
There was a visual impact map when I looked at the plans in Wick, it showed the large area that the plant could be seen from, I asked to look at it again in Thurso, but they didn’t have it, it wasn’t available ( how convenient ). All they could show me was a picture with a blurred sewerage treatment plant in the distance. I expect a better class of service than this apathetic consultation, its an insult to the people of Caithness. What’s in The best Interests of Caithness should come first, not Scottish Water, Inverness, Edinburgh, or London.
I used to believe in what the Government said, and Santa Claus, but I learnt by experience, to ask questions, and look at the whole picture, not just the bit they show you.

[lois17]

I'm no supporter of this project, just trying to be balanced, but i can't think what would be 20m high - are you sure? That's 63 feet. I've never seen anything so big at a sewage works. :confused

[concerned resident]

lois17

I'm no supporter of this project, just trying to be balanced, but i can't think what would be 20m high - are you sure? That's 63 feet. I've never seen anything so big at a sewage works.

The top of the structure, called Aeration lanes is 20.0m ( I think this is where the sludge is treated)
Primary settlement tanks 17.9m top of structure.
Final effluent tanks, Height unknown.
Sludge holding tanks, Height 19.50m.
Odour control, overall height of ductwork 26.93
This is as i noted from the plans, (start September)
No matter how you look at it, there is still going to be a big bit sticking out.
I would like to see Caithness prosper in the tourist trade, like Orkney, but if they put a Sewerage Plant at the entrance to Thurso Bay, just as well no bother, as Thurso will be the laughing stock of the tourism industry.

[concerned resident]

Scottish Water awash with complaints : P&J 7-9-04 (brief summary)
Argyll MP and area MSP flooded with complaints about the poor performance of Scottish Water. Tour of constituency has seen them receive more grumbles about Scottish Water than any other subject. Nearly every community they met with, had complaints about proposals for new sewerage Plants, this demonstrates the lack of confidence there is in Scottish Water due to their failings to solve the problems in Campbeltown and Inveraray.
“The community of Campbeltown has complained of repeated flooding problems, while there have been odour problems in Inveraray.”


Wish our community, showed as much concern. They will get what they deserve.

[JAWS]

I thought Scottish Water was still Nationalised. sorry, in Public Ownership, and run by the Scottish Executive on behalf of the people of Scotland. That being so, it must be doing everything it can to provide a perfect system of supply and disposal.
SEPA is a Quango with responsibility for ensuring the suitable disposal of waste products on behalf of the Scottish Executive.

I have to wonder why the rest of the UK does not have the same problems.
Do they operate a different system to that in Scotland?

[daviddd]

I have to wonder why the rest of the UK does not have the same problems.
Do they operate a different system to that in Scotland? No not really, I'm sure thet are having these same smell etc. problems in England too...technology hasn't caught up yet with the smell problem. It's not just a prob with sewage works, also with pongy factories - knackeries for example, there just isn't an easy way of reducing smells in a large-scale way. Distance (dilution) seems to be the only current option!

[JAWS]

Sorry daviddd, I was thinking more on the lines of problems with outlets in unsuitable places and the problems of the systems backing up when it rains hard.

I know there is nothing that can be done when there is flooding but there seems to be problems when it hasn't got that bad.
In Wick the other year the stench was horrific. OK, it had rained hard, but not that hard, and the system just couldn't cope.

The only time I have smelled anything like it was in the 1970s in Bristol, in the middle of a heatwave, when all the sewage from the city was being pumped untreated into the river because of a strike and the whole river was an open sewer.

Scottish Waters attitude when there is a problem like that just seems to be "Tough, just put up with it!", backed up with a string of pathetic excuses.

Rain seems to be something new to them, they use it as a ready made excuse for everything.
Somebody should point out to them that this is Scotland, not the Sahara.

[concerned resident]

AL Fayed demands Scottish Water scraps sewerage plan : P&J 10/09/04
Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed is demanding that Scottish Water withdraws its application for a controversial New Sewerage Treatment Works in Ross-shire.
It would be nice if we had a concerned person like Mr Mohamed, in Thurso, instead
A community which accepts the information that they are given, and never question it.
A part of the problem I believe, goes back in time, to when Dounreay was a going concern, and the government brought up people from the south. They had their children, and the children went of to University, never to return, and of course the parents moved back south to be near their children. This I believe is just one of the reasons, of which there are many. We have a beautiful County, and a history that many would envy, and I am sure, our fore fathers look down from above and wonder, where the bunch of wimps, that now inhabit the county came from. As I have said before, it should be, what is in the best interests of Caithness, should always come first, not Inverness, Edinburgh or London. We are regulated from these places, and accept without question. (The fight to retain the Maternity in the Caithness General is like a breath of fresh air).

[concerned resident]

Unfortunately the people of Caithness will have to get their Act together, as time is running out.
Our public Services are being with drawn, Maternity Unit, Dentists, Telephone boxes, etc. Shops ceasing to trade, also companies, and the future looks bleak.
We are still getting ripped off at the petrol pumps.
Inverness is getting bigger and bigger, it would help if we had some control over Caithness, and not ruled from Inverness.
I have only touched the edges of our problems, if the sewerage plant stinks, the population will have that low a morale, they won’t care.