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.
(Image: Scottish Water)
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.
(Image: Scottish Water)
“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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