Scottish Water is about to start work on an important flood alleviation project in Paisley. The £550,000 project, which is expected to start today, is designed to reduce the risk of flooding which has affected five properties.

The properties have been affected by internal flooding when a waste water pipe can back-up and surcharge waste water during heavy rainfall. Contractors Carillion, working for Scottish Water Solutions, will re-grade a 60 metre stretch of pipe to a more appropriate gradient and upsize the sewer to reduce the risk of it backing-up and surcharging.

Mark Templeton, Scottish Water's acting regional manager, said:

"Scottish Water is very pleased to be starting this important project in Lanfine Road.

"We take our responsibilities to deal with flooding issues very seriously and fully understand the disruption and inconvenience that flooding can cause.

"Scottish Water is committed to providing a first-class service to our customers 24 hours a day, seven days a week and to ensuring that issues such as this sort of flooding are tackled so that people can enjoy a cleaner, fresher environment."

In the current 2006-10 investment period Scottish Water has so far invested more than £30m in internal sewer flooding and removed a total of 283 properties from the register of properties at risk of internal flooding.

Scottish Water Solutions is a joint venture of utility companies and contractors which was set up by Scottish Water in 2003 to manage and deliver the majority of it Capital Investment Programmes. Comprised of eight companies, it is one of the biggest partnerships of its kind and brings a commercial approach to delivering publicly-funded projects in the water sector ensuring value for money for Scottish Water's five million customers.

Scottish Water owns 51% of the shares and retains overall responsibility for delivery of its Capital Investment Programmes.