Utility workers have said that 30 industrial-sized bread baskets which they found in a sewer could have caused serious flooding problems.
The discovery was made in Cardonald, Glasgow, last week as Scottish Water employees were carrying out checks on flooding at a nearby cemetery.
After opening up a sewer manhole cover, workers found a pile of approximately 30 industrial size plastic bread baskets which took them three hours to clear and could have caused serious flooding.
Andrew Szolwski, network maintenance operative, said: “Why anyone would think it was a good idea to throw these baskets down a sewer is beyond me – it’s not clever and it could have caused serious problems with flooding.
“It took us around three hours to pull the baskets free, time which would have been much better spent elsewhere had the individual (or individuals) responsible thought about the consequences of their actions and not done this.”
The utility firm said the discovery is an “extreme example” of inappropriate items being put into the waste water system.
Everyday common household items such as wipes and cotton buds cause blockages across Scotland’s water network.
Scottish Water’s Keep the water cycle running smoothly campaign has been running for four years in an attempt to educate the public on how they can help avoid clogging up the cycle.
The number of blockages in Scotland’s drains and sewer network has reduced by 12% from almost 40,000 in 2013 to 35,208 in 2017 to the end of October.
The company says there are still almost 100 per day across Scotland and about 80% of them are caused by people putting the wrong things down their sinks and toilets.