Water - Delivery Assurance Group (DAG) report: quarter 3 - 2022 to 2023

8. Progress in delivering SR15 Completion projects

SR15 completion projects are reported in each of the water and wastewater portfolios in sections 4 and 5 of this report. For clarity, all completion projects are summarised in section 6. By way of recap, there are two categories of SR15 completion projects:

• Delayed Projects – projects that were expected to complete by the end of SR15 but were impacted by COVID-19, scope change, construction risk and third-party risk
• Planned projects – projects that commenced in SR14 but were always expected to complete during SR21

Table 1 below summarises the current status of each category

By way of further explanation:

Delayed Projects

At the end of Q3 2022/23 we had planned to have 74 of the 86 delayed SR15 projects through acceptance (Table 1). 18 have still to achieve Gate 100 acceptance. 6 of these are now forecasting acceptance in Q4 2022/23 with a further 4 in Q1 2023/24. A further 7 projects are forecasting completion in 2023/24 (Q2 to Q4) with 2 projects (Mannofield WTW and Easdale Cottages) forecasting acceptance in later in the period to align delivery with other planned work in the programme.

The reasons for reforecasting:

• The delivery of 4 projects has been reforecast due to third party issues.
• The delivery of a further 12 projects has been reforecast due to construction risks being realised. An example of this is at Londornoch WTW where work has been extended due to both the volumes of sludge encountered and re-sequencing of the contractor programme to allow the new sludge balance tank to be commissioned prior to emptying sludge lagoon No.2.
• 1 project have been reforecast as additional scope is required to complete the project.
• 1 project, Easdale - Seaview Cottage ST, has been delayed pending confirmation of the proposed solution for the nearby Clachan Balvicar WwTW where trials to provide additional filtration/UV treatment to protect the receiving water are currently ongoing.

The drought resilience project at West Lewis, which had previously been delayed due to the discovery of a crannog and other third-party issues, is now on site and in construction. 5 delayed projects are yet to start on site. These are:

• Rockcliffe Bathing Water where there has been significant community engagement on the location of the proposed works to minimise impact. Planning and land issues are now being moved forward. The most recent forecast delivery acceptance date of Jan 2026 is of concern to SEPA as the interim measures will remain in place for a further bathing water season. Chemical dosing is in place to protect the bathing water until the new works is constructed.
• Roberton WTW where the operational solution trialled to provide pH correction and coagulation has not been successful and a new project has been developed.
• Picketlaw WTW Main Out where the proposed solution has been re-evaluated. This project has now achieved Board approval to progress to site
• Boardhouse WTW where the proposed scope was found to be undeliverable. On investigation considerable siltation was found at the inlet pipe and this will be addressed before any screening at the inlet is considered.
• Easdale Cottages ST has been delayed pending confirmation of the proposed solution for the nearby Clachan Balvicar WwTW where trials to provide additional filtration/UV treatment to protect the receiving water are currently ongoing.

Planned Projects

No projects achieved acceptance in Q3. 41 projects have now achieved Gate 100 acceptance against a target for Q3 2022/23 of 51. One project (Improvement to Supply-Demand Balance - Stornoway WRZ) is forecast to be delivered ahead of plan, while 11 projects have been impacted by delays; Kirkmichael WTW has been returned to the plan stage as the promoted solution was not successful with the remaining projects impacted by design/construction delays. 3 of these projects are forecasting completion in Q4 with a further 2 in 23/24 Q1. The remaining projects, except for Edgehead ST and Kirkmichael, are forecasting to be complete by the end of 2023/24 Q4. 5 Planned projects are yet to start on site. These are:

• Sanday WTW achieved Gate 80 in Q3 2022/23. Detailed design is ongoing, and the project is forecast to start on site in July this year.
• Edgehead Septic Tank is going through the estimating process. Technical review and design acceptance have been agreed. The project is forecast to start on site in April this year.
• Water of Leith UIDs Batch 7 has now been approved at Gate 90 and is forecasting to start on site in March this year.
• South Uist WTW New Source is still under investigation to confirm the requirement for a new source. WQ sampling for potential new sources is ongoing, alongside discussions with SEPA, and a hydraulic model build has been scheduled to investigate whether more water can be transferred from Benbecula. The work at Stoneybridge WTW to improve water quality has now been completed.
• Upperton (Longriggend) WWTW is going through a scope review process. The project is forecast to start on site in June this year.