Scottish Water has said it has completed a major upgrade to its network of pipes in the Greenock and Skemorlie areas.

The project, valued at £3.4m, involved improving more than 27 miles of water mains to tackle the issue of discoloured water which has affected customers in the area in the past.

Work on the scheme commenced in autumn 2012. Around 14 miles of the mains were relined, while around 10 miles were cleaned and swabbed by contractors George Leslie. A further mile of mains was also replaced. It is thought that around 16,500 customers will now benefit from the upgrade.

Welcoming the completion of works, Chris Wallace, Scottish Water's Director of Communications, said: "Scottish Water is delighted to have completed this major project to invest in key stretches of our water infrastructure in parts of the Greenock and Skelmorlie areas.

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"We are committed to improving our services to customers across Scotland and this project is a good example of that.

"The pipes we worked on were ageing and our improvement work will now help ensure a supply of clear, fresh drinking water for years to come.

"Some customers in these areas have experienced discoloured water in the past and we are very pleased to have completed this significant investment in our infrastructure which will substantially reduce the risk of a recurrence of the discolouration problem for these customers."

Councillor Stephen McCabe, Inverclyde Council Leader, added: "This is a significant investment by Scottish Water in Inverclyde and is great news for the people of the Greenock area.

"Thousands will benefit from clearer, fresher drinking water and the risk of discoloured water has been substantially reduced. I would like to thank Scottish Water for their efforts and also to thank local people for their patience while the upgrading work was carried out. I know Scottish Water worked closely with the council's roads team to keep disruption to a minimum."

(JP/IT)