Specialist divers are now on the scene at a Paisley reservoir ahead of a special operation to remove dumped cars from the water later this week.
Scottish Water has been working in partnership with Renfrewshire Council, Police Scotland and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) to carry out the "delicate" and "complex" task of removing nine rotting and rusty cars from Gleniffer Braes.
Acting on calls from the local community for the vehicles to be removed, Scottish Water has enlisted help from contractors George Leslie Ltd to ensure the environment and the removal team are kept safe during the course of the operation.
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Following weeks of work to drain Lower Glen Dam Reservoir - which is known locally as Linn Reservoir - Scottish Water has now had a team of divers on the site today preparing the vehicles to be removed on Wednesday.
A short video posted on the Scottish Water Twitter account shows the diving team in action.
For health and safety reasons, pathways around the reservoir will be closed off to members of the public while the cars are pulled from the water.
Project manager Gerry O’Hara said: “We’ve listened to community concerns about the vehicles being in the water and now is the time to act.
“This is such a delicate and sensitive operation and has been months in the planning to ensure there is as little impact on the environment as possible and that our teams are safe.
“Restrictions are in place for everyone’s safety and we would ask visitors to Gleniffer Braes Country Park to respect all signage around the reservoir while these works are carried out.”
Additional mitigation measures will be in place to help avoid any impact on the local water environment, and Ayrshire Rivers Trust will carry out a fish rescue operation.
Once the vehicles have been safely recovered, the water in the reservoir - which is non-operational - will be raised back to its normal level.
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