Night-time work planned in Inverness as 'long-awaited' sewer investigation takes place
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Highlands and Islands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant has welcomed a "long-awaited" investigation into the sewer along Harbour Road in Inverness.
She was contacted by IDM Safety Solutions (IDM) in September 2022 advising of a problem with sewage back-spilling into premises in Harbour Road though their toilets.
Mrs Grant met with the managing director of IDM, Iain Macphail, and one of the businesses affected. It became apparent that the problem was not restricted to just one business however with other businesses along Harbour Road also submitting pictures and video footage to the MSP showing the scale of the problems they had experienced.
Mrs Grant subsequently set up a roundtable meeting with the affected business owners, some of whom had incurred significant clean-up costs, together with Scottish Water and Highland Council.
She said: “Given the clear environmental and health and safety implications, I pressed for a meeting with both Scottish Water and Highland Council.”
Following the meeting in December 2022, Scottish Water arranged for their specialist drainage engineer to visit affected sites with a view to progressing an initial investigation into the problem. In early February 2023, Highland Council confirmed that the road gullies on Harbour Road had been cleared as a result of the meeting.
The MSP continued: “Appeals to both Scottish Water and the Scottish Government to fund the clean-up costs fell on deaf ears and the only way through was to keep pressing for the cause of the problem to be properly investigated.”
Scottish Water has now confirmed that an investigation, involving CCTV of the sewer, is scheduled to start this week, with the relevant traffic management in place.
Scottish Water advise that the survey is expected to last four weeks with the work taking place at night to minimise disruption in the area as much as possible.
Rhoda Grant said: “Progress to date has been slow but I am pleased to now be advised that the investigation of the sewer will start this week. I hope this will result in positive action being taken to address the problem and I thank the businesses who have taken the time to highlight their situation to me.”
Iain Macphail of IDM Safety Solutions added: “This has been a challenge for our clients and others affected by the continual waste water ingress to their businesses and places of work and I am extremely grateful for the support of Rhoda and her team to continually push for this investigation which will hopefully allow the issue to be rectified for all those affected by it."
Mrs Grant concluded: “I will be keeping a close eye on what the investigation shows as we simply must get this situation resolved given the nature of the problem.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said: “In most established urban areas, the same pipes drain both waste water from homes and businesses; and rainwater from rooftops, paved areas and roads. During intense rainstorms, this unfortunately can result in the capacity of the sewer network being overwhelmed, with the risk of localised flooding.
“Flooding issues like this are often complex and investigations can take significant time, with a need to prioritise cases which are having the highest impact on customers. At Harbour Road, night-time work has been planned over the coming weeks to allow extensive surveys of the sewers beneath a busy part of the city’s road network, with as little disruption as possible. We would like to thank customers and road-users for their patience while we complete our work to understand the causes of flooding in this area.
“We would encourage any customers who are affected by flooding from the sewer to contact Scottish Water directly on 0800 077 8778, so that we can offer assistance and gain a full understanding of the issues being experienced.”
