Loch Katrine aqueducts refurbishment

Overview

The two Katrine Aqueducts (constructed 1859 and 1901) take water from Loch Katrine to the Milngavie and Balmore Water Treatment Works to supply more than 1.3 million people in the Glasgow area with clean water supplies.  Constructed in 1859, the first aqueduct is 55km long and traverses challenging terrain.  The second aqueduct is 38km long and was completed in 1901 and was constructed as a result of Glasgow’s rapidly expanding population.

Scottish Water has recently invested £20M to refurbish these critical Victoria-era assets.  The work was carried out by George Leslie Ltd with specialist subcontractor support from Castle Group and with design support by Atkins.  Concrete and masonry repairs were carried out to tunnel linings while bridge sections had masonry and metalwork repairs.

The programme of work included detailed inspection of a number of sections of unlined tunnel including where the first aqueduct crosses the Highland Boundary fault, one of the major geological boundaries in Scotland.  Elsewhere, sections of unlined tunnel were inspected using remote sensing techniques.  The refurbishment of sections of unlined tunnel required the installation of netting and bolts in highly constrained locations.

The presentation will provide some background to the history of the aqueducts, will describe the engineering geological inspections that were carried out, and will provide an overview of the installation of netting and bolting as part of the refurbishment works.