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Grouch - June 2008

In 2006, a few comical stories appeared in the Comment about the Weem Environmental Improvement Scheme which was heralded as giving a first time public sewage system for the good folk of Weem and Boltachan on the north side of the Tay from Aberfeldy.  So many mistakes were made with this contract, that one could only make fun of the catalogue of errors carried out by Alfred McAlpine the main contractor, on behalf of Scottish Water.

Talk about the blind leading the blind, as water pipes were cut by the diggers and for many days the householders went without help because someone forgot to supply emergency bottled water.  Telephone lines were cut, roads dug up again and again, plans changed again and again, pipe lines rerouted again and again and chaos reigned.  And then there was the mud, the inconvenience, the noise, the blocked road and house access roads, the excavations in private gardens etc, etc, and etc.  The work scheduled to take 8 months from the end of 2005 is still not complete!

The now famous/notorious sewage works and “reed beds” at Boltachan by the golf course, feature a large bed of special reeds, intended to filter and clarify the effluent before being released into the River Tay.  These reeds all died off as raw sewage flooded the beds and the foundations of the beds sank down into a big bed of peat, which was there all the time but was ignored by the contractor, despite them being warned by the locals.

As I said then, and say again, you had to laugh, or you would cry!  At the time, I said that it would not be a surprise if the contractor plated the wrong type of reeds to round off their costly contract of mistakes.  Lo and behold, all the plants did die off and the complete structural rebuilding of the reed beds is due to begin this very month.

It was no laughing matter for the 38 householders, and when they saw the construction costs rising from £1.48 million to £3 million and still rising, they became angry.  The co-ordinator of their protest with the support of the Dull and Weem Community Council, eventually got the ear of Ronnie Mercer, the Chairman of Scottish Water and the big wigs in Waterwatch Scotland, Audit Scotland, Water Industry Commission, the Scottish Executive and of course our own John Swinney.

It was many months before blame was admitted and some sort of explanation and apology was made by Scottish Water.  But, it was the cost over-run that seriously upset many residents in Weem and they are now pointing an accusing finger at the “cosy consortium” of contractors in partnership with Scottish Water in what is euphemistically called ‘Scottish Water Solutions’.

“Solutions” is a consortium of contractors who carry out the many major works commissioned by Scottish Water and to use their own words, “is a unique business model – a limited company within a publicly owned organisation – bringing global best practices from each partner to the Scottish water industry, particularly in the field of asset management, engineering, programme management and construction.”

When the Weem folk read this mission statement from Solutions, they burst out laughing, for they had witnessed at first hand a catalogue of mistakes which they had described as “poor planning, bad management and chaotic in execution.”  And they should know!

Apart from the “noxious smells” still hanging over the north bank of the Tay by the reed beds, the rest of the expensive sewage environmental improvement project seems to be working well.  But I have the feeling that the good householders in Weem have the bit between their teeth and are after blood, as they keeping asking questions about the relationship between Scottish Water and “Solutions”.  There is a rumour that some contractors in partnership with Scottish Water, are under scrutiny by the Office of Fair Trading and, if found wanting, could be sanctioned and heavily fined for “bid rigging” or other corrupt practice, as has already happened on several occasions in England.  WATCH THIS SPACE.

I am told that MSP John Swinney was helpful in the early stages of the struggle to get Scottish Water to admit faults in the management of the Weem Scheme.  Recent indications suggest that he may now be taking more than watching brief over events.  Again, WATCH THIS SPACE.

by Alex Peak