Sewage is being discharged into Scotland’s waterways 68 times a day, according to new figures showing spills have hit a record high.
The number of sewage releases is 15 per cent higher than previously thought, prompting calls for the SNP Scottish Government to bring in tougher regulations to start fixing the “scandal”.
Scottish Water released figures earlier this year showing it had ejected sewage into rivers, lochs, estuaries and beaches more than 21,660 times in 2023.
However, updated data from Scotland’s publicly owned water giant shows there were an additional 3,449 releases last year. It takes the total number of recorded incidents to 25,109 – 68 a day.
Environmental campaigners say the “unacceptable” figure – an increase from the previous annual high of 19,000 spills in 2022 – only hints at the true scale of the problem, since many sewage releases in Scotland are not monitored.
Analysis of the latest data shows that the River Clyde, flowing through Glasgow, saw the highest number of total spills anywhere in Scotland last year, with 2,550 releases via combined sewage overflows (CSOs).
Water companies across the UK are allowed to discharge raw sewage via CSOs during periods of heavy rain.
While the overflows are designed to drain water to stop flooding inside people’s homes, they often lead to toilet waste being discharged directly into rivers.
According to the data, there were 2,171 spills in the Clyde Estuary, west of Glasgow.
The Bay of Firth in the Orkney Islands saw 1,053 spills, followed by the 980 in Cluden Water in the Scottish Borders, and 849 spills in the Firth of Clyde off the Ayrshire coastline.
Save Our Shore Leith (SOS Leith), which aims to protect the Water of Leith flowing through Edinburgh, is demanding new regulations to enforce far more testing and extensive upgrades to the sewer network.
The Water of Leith has had no CSO monitoring at all in recent years, though 39 recording monitors were recently installed along the river.
Jim Jarvie of SOS Leith told i: “It’s unacceptable to be pumping sewage into our rivers when we don’t know exactly what’s in it.
“It’s imperative that more testing is done,” said Mr Jarvie. “We still need to know more on how bad the problem is – because we’re not testing enough for water quality, for bacteria in the sewage.
“I don’t think that Scottish Water have astrong incentive to fix the problem. It needs action from the Scottish Government, the paymasters [to Scottish Water], to force proper upgrades to the infrastructure.”
i has been urging political parties to get behind its manifesto to Save Britain’s Rivers, amid growing public anger over the amount of sewage dumped in the UK’s waterways.
i previously highlighted the problem of wet wipes, condoms and other material getting discharged along with treated sewage.
The new Labour Government has promised to introduce a Water (Special Measures) Bill to bring in tougher fines for the water companies in England and Wales.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats called on the SNP Government to start fixing the problem north of the border with new legislation.
Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said a Clean Water Act could force upgrades to the “Victorian” sewage network, bring in binding targets for a reduction in spills, and introduce a complete ban on sewage release in bathing waters.
“The scandal of sewage dumping in our rivers, lochs and beaches seems to be ever growing in Scotland.
“SNP ministers have defended this for too long. Millions of litres of sewage are being dumped into our rivers, lochs and beaches.”
Scottish Water said it had invested £2.7bn in the drainage system over the past decade, with another £500m committed for improvements in the years ahead.
A spokesperson for the company said the public had a role to play in alleviating sewage discharge. “Customers can play their part by not flushing wet wipes, and other items that cause blockages, down toilets.”
The Scottish Government said it was “not complacent” on the issue, adding that it would continue to work with both Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regulator “to monitor and improve water quality”.
It also said “good progress” was being made by Scottish Water on a pledge to install at least 1,000 new monitors by the end of 2024, with around 800 having already been installed by the end of March.