Image description: Running water coming out of three faucets. Image by Pixabay.

Hundreds of hectares of peatland is being restored in a project which aims to prevent Glasgow’s tap water turning brown during extreme rain.

Loch Katrine, in the heart of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park, supplies water to 1.3 million homes in and around Scotland’s largest city. However, the peat in the hills surrounding the loch has degraded.

More intense rainfall has led to an increase in organic run-off from the peat, which means that without intervention the water will turn brown during heavy storms. This run-off is technically difficult and expensive to remove at the treatment works, and without intervention poses health risks from bacteria and the microscopic cryptosporidium parasite, as well as potentially affecting the taste and smell of the water.

The restoration work is part of a long-term land management plan for the hills around the eight-mile-long (13km) freshwater loch. The project, which will also see the creation of one of Europe’s largest new woodlands, is expected to capture a million tonnes of carbon over 60 years and increase the amount of biodiversity on the site. The estate containing the water catchment covers an area of almost 10,000 hectares, about 400 hectares of which is in the process of being restored.

Image description: Peat cutting. Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter. The climate, ocean, wind, and rain all influence peat makeup. Image by bernswaelz.

Alongside the restoration, advanced monitoring technologies have been installed on the peatland and in Loch Katrine to track the water quality. Radiometer sensors have been attached to the Sir Walter Scott steamer, which measure light reflection from the water’s surface, while a newly installed static buoy takes readings of temperature, conductivity and concentrations of sediment. The data will provide real-time information every 15 minutes via satellite, and is hoped to give critical insights on the  land management in the catchment around Loch Katrine and the impact of some of the nature-based solutions that Scottish Water are implementing.