Site Records

Livishie Power Station - The headworks

Livishie power station isn't supplied by a single large reservoir. Instead, a whole series of small dams, tunnels, and aqueducts taps and controls a series of small lochs, streams, and watersheds in the mountainous country to the North of Glen Moriston and the West of Loch Ness. These waters are lead to a small headpond on the Allt Bhlaraidh, which provides less than a days storage, and from there by pipe and tunnel to Livishe power station.

The road to the headworks is a rough track starting at a locked gate next to the Allt Bhlaraidh. Suitably equipped with a key, one proceeds up the road and encounters a helpful roadsign:

Proceeding up the left-hand road, the first place we come to is the main headpond at Bhlaraidh Dam. A modest dam, with a spillway along the top, a valve house at the bottom, and a penstock emerging which is culverted under the road:

The penstock only runs for a short distance before disappearing into a tunnel; the water is taken by tunnel the rest of the way to Livishie power station:

As I said, a modest dam with only a small reservoir behind it:

The view from the top of the dam - valve house, penstock, tunnel entrance, and the road disappearing down to Glen Moriston in the distance:

Driving along above the reservoir, on the far bank you can see the 'cutting' where the water emerges from the tunnel - the tunnel which brings water from the Eastern Saigh & Chrathaich sections of the headworks (tunnel portal itself can't be seen from this viewpoint - it's 'round the bend' at the left end of the cut):

Referring to the map above, you'll see we next come to Liath dam. This is an even more trivial structure, with a simple flap gate to control water flow. There's no tunnel or other works associated here - the water is released as required by the flap gate, and allowed to flow down the natural watercourse to Bhlaraidh:

Photo: Liath Dam
Photo by: Mike Ross

Following the road on from Liath dam, we reach a weary end at Stac dam, possibly the most pathetic excuse for a dam I've ever seen:

Returning to the fork in the road (see map above) we take the Chrathaich branch. On the way to Chrathaich dam, we pass a very obvious spoil heap, and another intake:

The intake is a perfectly conventional scoop-type intake, the water falling through screens in the side of the scoop and being led to the aqueduct running off to the right of the picture, which leads the water into the tunnel from the Allt Saigh running below us:

Chrathaich dam, when reached, proves to be almost as 'impressive' a structure as Stac dam (!). Once again there's no intake or tunnel here; the water, when released, is simply allowed to run down the natural streambed to the intake.

Driving back to the fork once again, we this time take the track to the Allt Saigh. This is a road which seems to go on for ever, across the remote hilly country above Loch Ness:

Finally we arrive - a couple of very small dams, a small loch, a big spoil heap, and the intake of the tunnel which runs all the way from here back to where it discharges into the Bhlaraidh reservoir (see above):

Another view of the Saigh intake:

Words and images © 2005 Michael J. Ross