Over 500 hectares of peatland in East Ayrshire is to be restored by Scottish Water as part of its bid to protect water quality and cut carbon.
The project is focused on land surrounding the Afton Reservoir near New Cumnock and is the largest peatland restoration scheme carried out by the company to date.
The work will be split into two phases, with the first – totalling almost 300 hectares – set to be complete by the end of the year.
Work on the second phase is getting underway this month while the project as a whole is expected to be complete by the end of 2025.
The scheme aims to return the land to a more natural state by closing up the drains which cover much of the area, using a technique called zippering. This allows water to be held within the land, encouraging healthy peatlands and preventing erosion.
Scottish Water project manager, Alan MacDonald, said: “The work we are doing here will reduce the organic matter that is feeding into the reservoir, ensuring the quality of our source water remains high and making the job of treating it less time consuming and costly.
“When peat dries out, it erodes and releases carbon. This project will mean water is held within the land, helping the peatland to restore to its natural state and allowing it to capture carbon very effectively.”
He added: “There are drains all over these hillsides and they were obviously there for a purpose – to dry the land. Sometimes that was ahead of forestry work, sometimes that was to dry the land where sheep were being grazed.
“But with the increasing need to cut carbon emissions due to the climate emergency, drying out of hillsides is not what we want to do so we’re putting back to nature what man did.
“These projects will make a key contribution to our own net zero journey locking up carbon, supporting biodiversity and helping the Scottish Government’s targets for peatland restoration in Scotland. They are also vital in making our water sources more resilient to future climate change.”