A multi-million pound investment to cut the risk of flooding is to begin six months after a comedian filmed raw sewage spilling onto a Fife beach.
Never Mind The Buzzcocks star Phill Jupitus shared a clip of water overflowing and running into the North Sea at Pittenweem in July.
He claimed to have witnessed the drains overflowing several times since he moved to the East Neuk village almost seven years ago.
They are used as relief points in the network during heavy rainfall – preventing sewage backing up into people’s homes.
Scottish Water said at the time it was planning an upgrade of the sewer network in Pittenweem to reduce the risk.
It has now announced the work will begin on Monday.
What will the Pittenweem sewer work involve?
It involves a new long sea outfall, sewer overflow chambers and upgraded pipework.
The first phase will begin in the East Shore area and is expected to take around five months.
Scottish Water said it will mean less chance of items such as wet wipes and sanitary products from ending up in the environment during heavy rain.
Meanwhile, the new outfall will take the existing overflow from the inner harbour further out to sea.
Pittenweem has ‘long history’ of issues
Parking restrictions and traffic management, including two-way traffic lights, will be in place throughout the work.
Scott Fraser, Scottish Water’s Corporate Affairs Manager, said: “This is an important investment for Pittenweem.
“The village has had a long history of sewer flooding so it is great to see this project start.”
The firm said it had consulted with community groups over a number of years.
And it pledged to keep them up to date on the Pittenweem sewer work.
Full details of the overall programme of construction can be found on our dedicated webpage: www.scottishwater.co.uk/pittenweem
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