Scottish Water is urging people to “bin the wipes” as they launch a new campaign to combat blockages.
Tackling around 100 blockages a day with wipes found in 80 percent of them, the company's sewer response teams will now display new signage before leaving a street stencil on the pavement saying, “Another blockage cleared. Flushing wipes blocks pipes. Bin the wipes.”
It costs around £216 to clear each blockage, equating to £23,000 daily across Scotland.
These measures are adopted as a part of Scottish Water's Nature Calls campaign aiming to encourage people to prevent blockages to reduce property flooding and pollution.
The strategic campaign will be implemented across Scotland, including areas recognised as blockage hotspots.
Garry Kirkwood, customer manager - sewer response at Scottish Water, said: “To some, the street stencils might be regarded as graffiti, but they are temporary and convey a very important message.
"The real damage is happening below the surface and it is this which we are highlighting with the stencils.
“They use environmentally friendly chalk-based paint that weathers and washes away naturally in around 6 weeks and, for safety reasons, they will be placed only on pavements and not roads.
“We will use them whenever our Sewer Response teams attend to clear a blockage and the towns that our Community Engagement teams attend have been selected because they all have a high number of sewer blockages for their population size.
“We hope the signage and stencils have a lasting impact wherever they are used.”
The team clears about 36,000 blockages per year across the country.
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