Chamber and committees

The draft Designation and Election Orders for the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park were tabled for Parliament's consideration on 26 February. Ministers continue to consider the recommendations contained in the Scottish Natural Heritage Report with regard to the establishment of a Cairngorms National Park. We hope to complete that consideration soon and to consult on a draft Designation Order for the Cairngorms National Park in the near future.

I have asked the Chief Executive of West of Scotland Water to respond. The response is as follows:Unfortunately I am unable to give an answer to this question as disclosure may prejudice the current land negotiations.

I have asked the Chief Executive of West of Scotland Water to respond. The response is as follows:The water in Loch Katrine originates from a number of lochs which form a complex combined catchment system. Loch Katrine is the lowest point of this system with Loch Finglas the highest point at 157 metres AOD. The difference in level between the top water level at Loch Katrine and the reservoirs at Milngavie is only 22 inches, an impressive Victorian engineering achievement and one which constrains solution development for the Katrine Water Project.The top water level to which the proposed solution will pump is approximately the same as the top operating level in Loch Katrine. On occasions throughout the year, when Loch Katrine is drawn down, the level to which water is pumped at Milngavie may be higher than the level of Loch Katrine but may not necessarily be higher than the level at which the water originated.

I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-22819 on 20 February 2002.

I have asked the Chief Executive of West of Scotland Water to respond. The response is as follows:I would refer you to Annex D of the Environmental Statement which is available for inspection at the offices of East Dunbartonshire Council and West of Scotland Water.

I have asked the Chief Executive of West of Scotland Water to respond. His response is as follows:No water will be pumped to Balmore water treatment works under the Katrine Water project proposals. However, as a consequence of the solution adopted up to 8.5 million kWh of energy consumption will be saved at Ross Priory Pumping Station.

I have asked the Chief Executive of West of Scotland Water to respond. The response is as follows:The proposed scheme is planned to comply with the standards set out in West of Scotland Water's Code of Practice and Guaranteed Standards Scheme.

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water. The Chief Executive's response is:The energy consumption associated with pumping water from Balmore to the existing Glasgow supply system will vary depending upon the water demand in any given year and the mode of operation selected for both the Balmore and the new Milngavie water treatment plants. Based on an average year demand, the energy consumption of pumping from Balmore into the Glasgow supply system could lie within the operating range of 3.6 million kWh to 7 million kWh. For the option selection process, the lower figure was selected for use in all option comparisons as being the most representative energy consumption figure for a typical operating year and compatible with operating efficiency frameworks.

This is a matter for West of Scotland Water. The Chief Executive's response is:Each discipline was asked to score options against their criteria to assist in summarising the information in the Environmental Statement. Each discipline adopted its own scoring approach and a variety of different ranges and scoring methods were used, although for all criteria a low score represented worse and a high score better performance. So for example the environmental team scored all options on a range of 1 (worst) to 10 (best) for all environmental criteria; the different engineering disciplines used ranges e.g. 0-2, 0-5, 1-5, depending on the criterion and the degree of differentiation between the options. For energy consumption the quantitative values were simply converted to a scale of 1 to 10 from worst to best. It should be emphasised that the scores for different criteria are not equivalent and cannot be summed together. The scoring ranges are indicated on the appraisal framework in Table D6.2 of Appendix D in the Environmental Statement.It is worth stressing that throughout the complex decision making process, final choices were made by discussion and debate between different disciplines in the team. Consequently distortions related to importance did not occur. Tools were used to help the team sort out their ideas and distil information down into a manageable form to help their discussions, but they were not the principal methods used to make choices.

>This is a matter for West of Scotland Water. The Chief Executive's response is:West of Scotland Water would not anticipate any leakage from the new pipe network to be installed as part of the Katrine Water Project.