Clovenfords kicks up stink over sewage
David Knox • Published 28 Jul 2011 09:30
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ANGRY villagers in Clovenfords want answers after amenity companies failed to flush out the reasons behind a fresh sewage problem.
Raw sewage has started emerging from drains in the centre of the village for the past month.
Residents claim the problem stems from recent underground power cable work carried on Vine Street.
But initial responses from both Scottish Power and Scottish Water have denied any damage was done during the recent upgrade.
Local councillor Gavin Logan told us: "It is the responsibility of Scottish Water to deal with sewage and they must give this their full attention.
"Scottish Borders Council notified them of the problem three or four weeks ago yet we still have sewage coming up through the drains."
Locals believed the recent heavy rainfall could have also been behind the waste problem.
But this week - on a dry Monday - sewage began to appear again on the main street.
Stuart Bell, chairman of Clovenfords Community Council, said: "There has been a number of concerns raised by residents in Clovenfords about this.
"There's never been a flood at this part of the road until it was recently dug up by Scottish Power.
"We are dismayed that all of the public bodies have so far denied responsibility - something needs to be done now."
Although engineers from Scottish Water carried out a CCTV probe of the drains without finding a problem, they have now agreed to investigate the pipes again.
A Scottish Water spokesperson told the Border Telegraph: "Scottish Water engineers have been on site in Clovenfords regarding the sewer rising issue.
"We have carried out a CCTV investigation of our waste water network in this area; however it will be necessary to excavate the sewer pipe in order to investigate further. We will keep local customers updated with our findings."
This article appeared in Border Telegraph 03 Aug 11
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