Scottish Water is working with house-builder Bellway to resolve a drainage issue next to a Perth play park.
One local mum told the Perthshire Advertiser she would not let her young children play at Darnhall Park due to raw sewage regularly overflowing from a drain.
Perth and Kinross Council (PKC) has insisted keeping its play areas safe was a "top priority".
The mum - who did not want to be named - questioned how safe it was for children to play at the park which sits between Murray Crescent and Darnhall Crescent.
She said: "There is a drain that is full of sewage and it keeps overflowing. I do not think it is safe for my children to play there."
But PKC said an inspection showed there was no raw sewage detected on or beside the play equipment.
A PKC spokesperson said: "Keeping our play areas safe for children to use is a top priority, and we clean play area equipment with disinfectant where required. At the time of the works being carried out by Scottish Water the area was inspected and there was no raw sewage noted on or beside the play equipment."
The drainage issue seems to have arisen from a problem with a stormwater storage tank. According to Scottish Water, Bellway installed the tank at Darnhall Crescent to manage additional flows from Bellway's development just off Glasgow Road. The tank has not yet passed into Scottish Water's ownership.
Bellway said its "substantial" drainage system had "performed as designed" for over five years until a major flood in November 2022.
A spokesperson for Bellway said: "This area of Perth has a history of flooding and as a result, as part of the planning process before the site was developed, a substantial drainage system was agreed as part of planning and installed with the agreement of the local authority and other agencies. This network has performed as designed, with no flooding for over five years. Unfortunately, in November 2022, heavy rainfall led to a major flood event around the Perth region, which overwhelmed drainage systems throughout the region.
"Bellway has been working with Scottish Water to investigate the flooding on our site and identified blockages caused by the floodwater which were cleared to allow the system to work as designed. We are undertaking further works to ensure the drainage system is working correctly."
Scottish Water will not take ownership of the stormwater storage tank until the problem is fixed.
A spokesperson for Scottish Water said: "An additional stormwater storage tank was installed several years ago by a contractor working for Bellway in the park below Darnhall Crescent. The tank is designed to provide extra capacity in the sewer network during storm events – and is part of measures that were required to prevent adverse impact from the connection of new homes at Bellway’s development site on Glasgow Road.
"The new storm tank currently remains the responsibility of the developer, but we are aware that it has not been operating correctly. Our local team has responded to incidents of surcharging to investigate, mitigate impact on the environment as far as possible and clean up.
"We have been engaging with Bellway about this and understand that they have recently completed further investigations. We will continue to work with them to ensure the cause of the problem is understood and remedied as soon as possible.
"There is a process for this kind of new infrastructure which is expected to result in the tank being transferred into Scottish Water’s ownership and care, but this can only happen once all required information has been received from the developer and any remedial work has been completed."
