Wastewater treatment works in Scotland have evolved substantially in the past 20 years.  During the 1990s, major investments were made to comply with the Urban Wastewater Treatment directive.  These investments were designed to protect the environment from the adverse effects of urban waste water discharges, and were not specifically focused on odour control.   Odours continued to present issues at some sites, and in 2005, a statutory Code of Practice (CoP) for odour control at sewage works in Scotland was published by the Scottish Executive.  
 

Within the EU Horizon 20/20 program and The Hydro Nation Agenda water is seen as a significant enabling factor in the transition towards a resource efficiency and regenerative circular economy. While major urban managed water systems have seen
much improvement in performance, small to medium supplies still require optimisation. The research undertaken addressed the need to optimise the overall sustainability of small to medium sized water treatment processes.

Small scale and rural water supplies present well-recognised problems to policymakers, regulators, service providers, communities and water users, all over the world.

The purpose of this research is to produce a map that demonstrates the scope and scale of Scotland’s water sector and demonstrates how the different parts of the sector link together. It demonstrates how the decision making processes that influence, manage and control Scotland’s water resources are distributed throughout the sector. This research supports the Scottish Government’s Hydro Nation Strategy.

Private water supplies provide ~3% of the Scottish population with their main source of drinking water. Many more people encounter private supplies when they stay in holiday accommodation and visit the more remote parts of Scotland, although PWS can be found in urban areas. The quality of these supplies is variable; many have adequate treatment and are well managed, but others present a risk to health due to the quality of the raw water and inadequate, or absent, treatment.

CREW’s role is to support staff in SG, SEPA and Scottish Water (our end users) in their work to develop and implement water related policy in Scotland. As policy needs evolve, CREW also continues to evolve.

This report responds to a CREW call down request submitted by Scottish Water to support the establishment of a pilot Water Restoration Park at a waste water treatment works (wwtw) to reclaim, recycle and market the waste water. The research sought to investigate potential locations to pilot a Water Restoration Park, regulatory frameworks and potential markets for the recycled water.

Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters, CREW, delivers objective and robust research and expert opinion to support the development and implementation of water policy in Scotland. During 2012-13 CREW has supported policy teams working on Hydro Nation, flood risk management, catchment management and the Water Framework Directive, drinking water and waste water services, as well as wider policy.

The December 2013 edition of CREWs NEWs is available now. Find out about CREW events, projects, contract opportunities and competitions as well as news and events from the wider water sector. If you have any comments about CREWs NEWs or would like to advertise an upcoming event please get in touch.

There are approximately 200,000 sewer blockages throughout the UK every year. It is estimated around 75% are caused by FOG (Mills, 2010). Problems caused by FOG in the sewer system not only affect the performance of the sewer system and waste water treatment works (WWTW) but may also reduce asset life and increase maintenance costs. This will have an economic impact on the responsible water authorities and will ultimately be reflected in increased prices for customers.