MSP calls for legally binding targets to end sewage discharges polluting bathing waters
‘It is totally unacceptable for such discharges to take place’ - Miles Briggs MSP
A Lothian MSP has called for legally binding targets to end untreated sewage discharges polluting bathing waters within the next four years.
Miles Briggs, Tory MSP for Edinburgh and Lothians East, said it was "totally unacceptable" for regular discharges to be taking place directly into the seas and affecting popular beaches.
He asked Climate Action Secretary Gillian Martin in the Scottish Parliament what discussions ministers were having with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) on the discharges.
She told him: “Scotland’s bathing waters are important for local communities, and 97 per cent of our bathing waters achieve the bathing water standard for water quality.
“I have had regular engagement with Sepa and Scottish Water throughout the bathing water season, including two meetings with Sepa in the past few weeks, to ensure that all the necessary actions are being taken to protect and improve bathing water quality across the whole of Scotland.”
And she said “a range of actions” were under way or planned by Scottish Water and others to address bathing water quality, particularly in Edinburgh and East Lothian.
“As part of that work, Scottish Water is undertaking a £1 million study - a study that I requested - to consider what work could further improve the bathing water in that region.”
Mr Briggs said he was regularly contacted by constituents about the impact that sewage discharge was having on communities.
“Just this morning, there were two reported pollution alerts, at Wardie Bay and Belhaven in East Lothian. It is totally unacceptable for such discharges to take place.
“What action will ministers take? More specifically, will they set legally binding targets to end untreated sewage discharges that affect bathing waters and popular recreational water use by 2030?”
Ms Martin said sewage was not always the cause of pollution in bathing waters. “Over the summer, there have been instances which have been to do with factors such as litter, seagull activity and dog mess, in particular.”
And she said the £1m study would help to identify any action that needed to be taken.
Tammy McLellan, who lives in Edinburgh but works in Dunbar, told the Evening News she often went to Belhaven beach with her son.
"It's a lovely beach - and we go swimming in the sea,” she said. “I joined Surfers Against Sewage a while ago and they gave me an app where I could look and see the quality of the water at the beach.
"Sometimes I have thought 'The water doesn't look great, I'm not sure I want to go in today' but I didn't realise how often sewage was being dumped in the water and I was shocked to see that it seems to be a regular occurrence.
"We never went swimming where the outlet came into the sea, but I just always assumed Scotland had clean water. It was only once I had the app I realised how often this was happening.
"A lot of people go surfing at Belhaven. If there's sewage being regularly dumped in the water, that's not great for them.
"There's a Clean Water Bill going through the UK parliament just now but we don't have one in Scotland.”