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His Royal Highness The Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay, will officially open Loch Calder Water Treatment works, at Hoy, near Halkirk in Caithness on Monday 2 August 2004. The Royal Visit comes nearly 50 years after his grandmother, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, opened the original works in 1955.

Picture Gallery Of Prince Charles Opening the New Treatment Works & Inside

The brand new treatment works forms part of Scottish Water’s North Coast Regional Scheme – the biggest single investment in the water supply for the Highlands.

The £28 million scheme substantially improves the water quality supplied to around 30,000 customers in 13 communities in Caithness and along the north coast of Sutherland. The scheme serves an area of over 70kms from John O’Groats in the east to Tongue in the west.

A key part of the scheme is the new water treatment works at Hoy, next to the old works. Water supplies are now distributed via the existing network of trunk mains and the new 85km pipeline laid from Hoy to Tongue and down into Strath Halladale and Strathnaver.  Two service reservoirs and three booster pumping stations complete the new infrastructure.

Professor Alan Alexander, Chair, Scottish Water, said he was delighted that HRH The Prince Charles had agreed to open the new works. “We are very pleased to welcome HRH to Hoy and to replicate the Royal Opening of 1955 when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother opened the original works. We will mark the Royal visit by unveiling a standing stone of Caithness flagstone.”

The new scheme vastly improves the service to customers ensuring a safe, clean, and more reliable drinking water supply.

Previously, drinking water in the area came from 11 different treatment systems - all built in the 1950s and 1960s. These works could not continue to provide reliable water supplies and were unable to treat water to the higher standards now required by modern legislation. They will now be decommissioned.

Professor Alexander added “A more robust, modern process is being used to treat water to a very high standard. This ensures our customers have a regular, safe, clean water supply which fully satisfies all treatment standards today and into the foreseeable future.”

The work forms part of Scottish Water’s much needed £1.8 billion Capital Investment Programme to bring Scotland’s water supply up to date and to deliver greater efficiency, cost benefits and quality.

A further 24 waste water improvement schemes are in the pipeline for Wick and the surrounding areas. This investment of around £18m will deliver significantly cleaner beaches and coastlines.

Throughout the 2 ½ year construction period, great care has been taken to minimise any potential impact on the local environment and areas of archaeological interest, through consultation with Highland Council, SNH, SEPA and RSPB.

The works was designed and delivered on behalf of Scottish Water by Delta Scotland, a joint venture between Morrison and Earth Tech Engineering Limited. Delta Scotland was formerly one of three teams formed to assist North of Scotland Water Authority in making improvements to the quality of drinking water throughout the Highlands and Islands.

The Caithness flagstone was sourced from A and D Sutherland Ltd, Spittal Quarry, Spittal.

The original works was opened by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother on 30 April 1955

The £28 million scheme benefits around 30,000 customers in 13 communities from John O’Groats to Tongue

This scheme is part of Scottish Water’s Scotland-wide investment programme of £1.8 billion to upgrade ageing water infrastructure

The new works replaces 11 different water treatment systems and can produce up to 17 million litres of water every day – this is enough to supply 212, 500 baths