A Dundee family have hit out at Scottish Water for failing to fix a collapsed sewer pipe, which has affected day-to-day living in the household.
Window cleaner James McIntosh (35), who lives at St Giles Terrace in St Mary’s with his wife and four children, said that despite repeated calls to the public body, he has become increasingly frustrated at the lack of progress.
“I spoke to someone at Scottish Water who said they would send somebody round this Friday but I told them they would have to be a lot quicker than that,” he said.
“It appears that part of the clay pipe running underneath the garden has collapsed and that is causing the sewage to back up and overflow in our bathroom.
“I have tried getting Scottish Water to get this sorted before but they haven’t. It’s just not right.”
With the toilet frequently overflowing when in use, the family had fitted bin bags around the seat in order to remove the waste themselves.
As an emergency measure, Drainco, who work as sub-contractors for Scottish Water, disconnected the bathroom drain from the main sewer pipe on April 8 when they visited the property.
But as a consequence of this action, raw sewage now flows direct from the toilet into the back garden causing a nasty smell as well as a health hazard.
“The water board are never away from this area,” continued Mr McIntosh. “At least three times a year our downstairs bedroom, where the cot sits, has sewage dripping off the ceiling and light fitting.
“We have a child who is disabled and she has something wrong with her bowels. She needs access to a toilet all the time and there is no way we will go to the neighbour’s house to do that, which is what Scottish Water want us to do.Dripping on face”It has been a non-stop nightmare and I don’t know why it is taking so long. The carpets will have to come up at some point but I don’t have the money to do that just now.
“We have had to replace the mattress and covers so many times. I have even woken up with it dripping onto my face when I was sleeping. I thought at first it was rain coming in through the window but it wasn’t
“I think it is terrible the way we have been treated.”
Scottish Water said it is working towards remedying the problem as soon as possible. It also added that each time the sewer has choked, its workers were on site to remove the blockage and clean up any mess.
“Following a series of investigations, we can now establish that this section of the network has been steadily deteriorating and therefore it is now important that we replace the affected part of this waste water pipe,” a spokesman said.
“This work will be carried out as soon as possible to ensure there is no repeat of this issue.”
“Scottish Water has carried out remedial work to remove the immediate impact of this issue. It will be necessary to investigate the cause of the issue further.
“Our operatives have been in contact with the customer and will continue to liaise with them until this matter is resolved. We would like to take this opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience this may have caused.”