A DIY enthusiast has been blamed for polluting a river after a 'noxious grey/white solution' was pictured pouring out of a drainage tunnel into the beauty spot last week.
Local resident Joy Godfrey tracked the pollution to its source and posted a picture on a local Facebook group yesterday (Saturday June 20).
The first locals heard of the spill were reports by another local resident of "a noxious grey/white solution being drained into the South Esk just upstream of Barondale Cottages on Thursday (June 13) evening."
Local resident Bill Swire posted pictured of the cloudy pollutant in the river, adding: "I've never seen anything like it".
Joy got to the suspected source of the problem after a phone call from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
She posted a picture of a nearby drain covered with paint, adding: "Everyone needs to be aware not to pour paint or other waste down road drains. It will end up untreated in the river.
"I reported the white discharge entering the Esk just above Barrondale Cottages at Newbattle to SEPA and they phoned me up to say it looked like paint from a DIY job.
"A road drain near the T-junction at the end of Newbattle Abbey Crescent is covered in a white substance that could be paint."
"Everyone should please know not to pour paint or any other substances down road drains - they are there to collect rainwater.
"Substances going down them are not treated - they go straight to polluting the river if they are paint, oil, bleach, fats, whatever... wildlife doesn't need our liquid garbage to contend with."
Last week we reported the South Esk had turned bright orange after acidic mine water leaked into it from an old disused pit.
Locals were furious after a report shows the chemicals from the mine have not only turned their river orange but are killing off small animals which live in the water.
