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In July, Portobello beach was closed following the discovery of E.coli levels in the water which were 10 times over the safe limit.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) advised people against bathing and paddling due to the potential human health risk.

This wasn’t an isolated incident. Sepa also advised people against bathing at Portobello for 11 days last year.

Portobello is a designated bathing water, so you’re correct for thinking that this really shouldn’t be happening. Unfortunately, it’s only the tip of the iceberg and a stark reminder of problems which seem to be growing in Scotland’s treasured waters.

In the coming days, we will likely find out exactly how much sewage was dumped into Scotland’s waters in 2025. The publication of these figures was delayed until after the election, timing of which I will leave to readers to draw their own conclusions.

What we do know is that the year before, sewage leaked into Scotland’s waters at least 23,672 times, discharging 22 billion litres of waste water into rivers, lochs and seas.

Research by "sewage sleuth" Peter Hammond has revealed that almost all of these discharges could be illegal, because in Scotland in 2024, 87 per cent of sewage was discharged in conditions which failed to meet the court definition of “heavy rainfall” used in the successful prosecution of Southern Water by England’s Environment Agency five years ago.

These so-called dry spills are considered far more damaging to the environment because there is no rainwater to dilute them.

Scotland’s water is a big part of our pitch to the rest of the world. We’re famed for our lochs, our rivers, our coastlines. That image, however, is severely undermined by the festering problems of water pollution and sewage. There are also big questions about whether the body in charge, Scottish Water, is being properly held to account.

Scottish Water is government-owned and accountable to SNP ministers. Over the past year, however, its bosses have received more than £250,000 in bonuses. That included a stunning £115,000 for its chief executive, on top of his £315,000 salary.

Bonuses are only meant to be payable if the body meets its performance targets, which includes things like customer satisfaction and a reduction in water pollution incidents. With repeatedly high levels of sewage dumping and popular beaches being forced to close, it’s very hard to understand the justification behind these eye-watering sums.

Along with my MSP colleague for Edinburgh Northern, Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, I have written directly to the First Minister, asking him to explain why such high bonuses continue to be paid out and what, if any, consideration is given to sewage dumps and beach closures.

The time has come for the SNP to clean up their act. Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see a Clean Water Act that will force the government and Scottish Water to take this issue seriously. It’s the first step in making sure we can track down and report every sewage discharge, replace outdated standards for what is and is not acceptable and back that up with modern, enforceable regulation.