Investigation partnership

A DRAINAGE report will help prevent future flooding in Forres once it is complete later this year.

Since 2017, Scottish Water has been working in partnership with Moray Council, carrying out a drainage study in Forres to build a model of the underground and above-ground drainage systems, including Scottish Water’s network as well as the surface water/road drains that the council maintains, and the natural watercourses.

Scottish Water corporate affairs manager (North) Gavin Steel explained: "The initial scope of the study was to include all drainage within the town. However, following a review it was identified that there was minimal interaction between the Scottish Water sewers and Moray Council drainage assets. In light of this, Scottish Water has continued with the drainage study of modelling our waste water network in the area to assess the risk of sewer flooding, as required by Section 16 of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009. Once complete, the hydraulic model will be capable of identifying locations of predicted flooding following rainfall events of varying severity."

He added: "Of particular interest is the Councillors Walk area, where there is a history of surface water and sewer flooding.

"To better understand the flooding mechanisms in this area we have carried out a range of more detailed surveys across drainage infrastructure, local properties and overland flow paths."

A number of studies are being taken forward out all over Scotland, in partnership with SEPA and local authorities, to improve understanding of the way different inter-connected drainage systems interact under a range of conditions, so that options can be identified to improve the management of surface water and reduce the risk of flooding during storm conditions.

"The survey work is now complete and the model build stage is nearing completion," said Mr Steel. "We anticipate that the drainage study will be completed by the end of this year."