Sewage seeping on to streets after flood
Residents call on Scottish Water to help them
Residents in St Ninians are calling for Scottish Water to get their act together over drainage issues that have seen sewage seep on to the streets.
The community has suffered consistent flooding over several years and are fearful that new housing developments proposed for the area could serve to make the issue worse.
And in August, raw sewage was discovered in amongst floodwater that had made it’s way on to a path close to the Thistle Park football pitches.
The desire for answers has been led by the area’s community council, who say that locals have been left worried about the lack of a response on the matter.
Chairman David Wilson told the Observer: “There have been the issues in Morley Crescent, which has flooded several times over the years, with the water travelling into people’s gardens.
“We then had the issue in August when there was raw material, like toilet paper, discovered in the floodwater that had backed up almost to the football pitch.
“Scottish Water were called out to that and one of their operatives told a member of the public that the reason it was happening was because the system couldn’t cope with the volume of new builds in the area.
“My concern is that we have about 300 to 400 extra houses due to be built into the area - including the plans for the old MFI site - and they will all be try to access the same system as well.
“Scottish Water have the right to comment on these plans, but have given them the green light so far despite our concerns that the system may not be fit for purpose - we just want them to address our concerns going forward.”
Following the August incident. Mr Wilson wrote to Scottish Water on behalf of the community council, but says he has only received courtesy emails in the following months informing him that someone would respond in due course.
Meanwhile, the issue appears to be still be unresolved, with fresh evidence of sewage matter appearing near the football pitches last week.
Mr Wilson said: “I sent my first email on September 11 last year and waited for a few weeks before sending through a reminder and I got a response through in December, but there has been nothing since then and it’s now the middle of February.
“The main concerns are for those residents in Morley Crescent because the incidents of flooding can be quite random in times of heavy rain, so it’s hard to work out what is happening.
“We’ve had fresh sewage issues down at the park with evidence of toilet paper and bits of tissue going to the grass, so it hasn’t gone away.
“It would be good to know what Scottish Water’s position is and for them to tell us whether there is a problem or not.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said: “During the most recent flooding there were about 50 flood warnings in place around the country with many areas experiencing extremely high rainfall during the storms.
“In many locations the levels of rainfall overwhelmed the man-made drainage systems including the sewers, culverted watercourses and road drainage systems leading to surface water and sewer flooding across many parts of Scotland.
“Where flooding occurs, we will ensure a customer response team attends as quickly as possible to carry out a clean-up and decontamination of the affected area.
“We are happy to speak to the community council directly to discuss concerns at this location in more detail. If there is a gulley issue, customers should contact the local authority.
“Thistle Park sewer has been CCTV surveyed and some tree roots have been identified. These will be removed by contractors working for Scottish Water in the coming days.’’