Scotland shockingly behind England in monitoring sewage releases

Laura Foster, Head of Clean Seas at the Marine Conservation Society (MCS), said, “All we have is a tiny snapshot of data for storm overflows in Scotland, but from what we can see, they paint a terrible picture of the situation.

“For thousands of hours each year, untreated sewage is being released straight into Scotland’s seas. This includes into designated bathing sites as well marine-protected areas which have been specifically recognised for their environmental importance. The Scottish Government needs to set spill reduction targets to tackle sewage pollution, for the sake of marine life, people and planet.”

The conservation charity called for monitoring and reporting on 100 percent of Scotland’s sewerage network by 2026.

This call comes in the wake of an announcement this week by the industry body Water UK of an apology from water and sewage companies in England for sewage spills and the launch of a £10 billion transformation programme, described as " a new National Overflows Plan, enabling the biggest modernisation of sewers since the Victorian era".

In England, water companies are privately owned, but Scotland’s water and sewerage network is operated by Scottish Water which is held accountable to the public by the Scottish Government.

Last year, according to MCS analysis of data from Scottish Water and SEPA,  storm overflows poured sewage into Scottish seas for over 113,000 hours. But the true scale of overflow release is likely to be far greater since this data comes from the tiny 3.4% of overflows that are monitored.

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The charity's analysis also showed that, in 2022, more than 20,000 hours of untreated sewage was released into waters within 1km of areas designated for marine nature conservation in Scotland. The data, again, came from only the tiny percentage of storm overflows within those areas that are monitored – while 97% are not.

“These protected areas,” the analysis noted, “are designated to safeguard vulnerable marine species or habitats. Sewage pollution can have significant impacts on wildlife, from neurological, hormone and immune problems, to impacting on sensitive habitats, like seagrass and maerl beds, which provide the foundation of many marine ecosystems.”

SEPA tests the water at most designating bathing waters sites for sewage-related bacteria regularly throughout the bathing waters season. However, MCS revealed that only 2% of storm overflows within 1km of designated Bathing Waters are monitored. These alone released untreated sewage for over 600 hours last year.

The charity is calling for the Scottish Government to set progressive spill reduction targets to tackle sewage pollution - though this is only possible if all outflow sites are monitored.

Catherine Gemmell, Scotland Conservation Officer at MCS, said: “We know sewage dumping in Scotland is bad by the amount of sewage-related litter that our volunteers find on beaches in certain areas across Scotland. But we still don’t know quite how bad it is, given that only 3.4% of sewage overflows are monitored.

“By setting progressive targets to reduce sewage pollution, and ensuring they are met by increased monitoring and the required enforcement, the Scottish Government can help protect our seas and the life within it.”

Scottish Water's Improving Urban Waters Routemap already incorporates targets for the installation of at least 1000 new monitors on the network by the end of 2024, with a possibility of increasing this figure to 2500.

The public water company has also committed to installing monitors on every CSO discharging to a Bathing or Shellfish Water, with near real-time monitoring published for all these monitored CSOs by the end 2024.

A Scottish Water spokesperson said: “We remain firmly on track to deliver on our commitment. Scotland’s rivers are in good health - 87% of waterbodies achieve good or better water quality and are among the best in Europe. Scottish Water has invested £2.7 billion in improving and maintaining the country’s public drainage system and infrastructure over the past decade to help achieve that status.

“Our Improving Urban Waters Routemap, which supports the national River Basin Management objectives (92% good water quality by 2027), commits us to further investment of up to £500m. That investment will: improve water quality; increase monitoring coverage at overflow locations that discharge into the highest priority waters; significantly reduce Sewage Related Debris (SRD) such as wet wipes, sanitary products and other items; and reduce sewer network spills.

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Not all spills from the wastewater network, the spokesperson said, are sewage spills. “The toilet sewage element of the water that spills is less than 1% of the total volume. What is spilled is largely rainwater. But the overflows that spill are needed so that water doesn’t back up into homes, streets, business and communities.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Scottish Government takes sewage pollution incidents very seriously and works closely with SEPA and Scottish Water to reduce any impact on the water environment.

“Comprehensive monitoring of coastal waterbodies is already undertaken by SEPA to assess water quality, physical condition and ecology which are combined to produce an overall classification of the water environment. Therefore, increasing the monitoring of sewage outflow pipes would not change the classification of the water environment by SEPA.

“66% of Scotland’s water environment meets ‘good’ ecological status, whereas Environment Agency figures for England are only 16%. 87% of Scotland’s entire water environment is assessed by SEPA as having a ‘high’ or ‘good’ classification for water quality, up from 82% six years ago. Meanwhile, 99% of coastal waterbodies are currently assessed as being in good or better overall condition.

“This upgrade in water quality reflects improvements made through Scottish Water’s £2.7bn investment programme over the past decade, and work by a range of stakeholders to improve rural land management practices to reduce diffuse pollution.

“However, we are not complacent. Scottish Water’s Improving Urban Waters Routemap, which supports the national River Basin Management objectives (92% good water quality by 2027), commits further investment of up to £500m

“That investment will improve water quality; increase monitoring coverage at overflow locations which discharge into the highest priority waters; significantly reduce Sewage Related Debris (SRD) such as wet wipes, sanitary products and other items; and reduce sewer network spills.