Three public bodies are working together to help Aberdeen businesses improve water quality in a local burn.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Scottish Water and Aberdeen City Council formed the East Tullos Burn Working Group in April 2007. To raise awareness of the burn and its historical problems, SEPA and Scottish Water staff have visited 36 businesses on the East Tullos Industrial Estate to tell them about the project and carry out informal site audits. These site visits have generally been well accepted, with recommendations being taken on board.

Promotional posters have now been designed and will be sent to businesses and the local community. Along with information boards erected along the burn, the posters will help to raise awareness in the wider community, as well as telling people how they can get involved

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Colin Gray from SEPA said: "The poor water quality in the burn is thought to be caused by a combination of discharges from the industrial estates, historical contaminants and water that has drained off from roads. As there is no single cause, it’s important for everyone to work together to resolve this.

"The project has done a lot of face-to-face work with local businesses and these posters and boards are designed to compliment that. The results of this work will not be seen overnight, but it is encouraging to see this level of interest in the project."

The next step is to visit a further 60 companies, this time on the Altens Industrial Estate. SEPA will continue to monitor the burn with both continuous chemistry sampling and ecological surveys to identify improvements and highlight any pollution events.

The Group is investigating proposals to form a natural treatment system which would treat the water as it flows, enhancing the biodiversity and amenity value of St Fitticks Park area and which will be consulted on locally.

(GK/JM)