East Lothian's Water Supply: 1940-2000

Alex Kerr

By 1959, four miles of pipe were being laid each year to supply new housing developments. Due to another drought year, emergency measures to abstract water directly from rivers had to be introduced to meet the daily consumption of 3.04 million gallons. The South of Scotland Electricity Board's proposal to build a coal fired power station at Cockenzie using 0.65 million gallons per day for steam production, made ELWB aware that a further reliable source had to be found. It was decided to construct a reservoir on the Whiteadder Water adjacent to the existing river intake.