Near Miss At Loch Leven - 10/06/2008

Thanks to the quick thinking of workers at the Kinross Waste Water Treatment Works, Loch Leven has narrowly avoided a major disaster. While carrying out a daily check on the works, Alan Rae looked in horror as 25-plus tons of heating oil proceeded to make its way into the company’s tanks, which would have eventually ended up in the loch.

His swift thinking prevented a disaster – he quickly shut down the inlet pipe and called for help. A local company had dumped the oil into drains after its warning system had failed.

Alan and his colleagues held the fort for seven hours until a tanker arrived to suck up the oil. They tried digging the stuff out of the tanks before that but, as senior operative Steve Bartie explained: “It turned hard like treacle as it cooled, making it like tar.”

Widespread damage would have been caused to the fishing on Loch Leven had the oil got through the treatment plant. Well done guys, good work!