Scotland still far behind England on sewage monitoring

Responding to Scottish Water's announcement that it has installed 1,000 event duration monitors at sewage overflows, with plans for a further 700 by the end of next year, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has highlighted that these installations still leave Scotland far behind England where 100% of overflows are monitored.

In the most recent published data on sewage dumping, just 276 sewage overflows were monitored.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information has now revealed that the total number of overflow points is 4,083 (having previously been reported as 3,674). This means that as of the 2023 data, only 7% of the total number of overflows were monitored.

An additional 1,000 event duration monitors would mean that 31.3% of overflows are being monitored. A further 700 would take the total number to 1,976, which is 48.4% of overflow points, still far below the 100% of overflows which are monitored in England.

Updated figures published on the Scottish Water website on 26th June, showed that there were 25,109 sewage dumps in Scotland in 2023, an increase from the 21,660 originally reported in March and more than double the number of dumps recorded in 2020. However, this figure is likely to be a significant underestimate due to the limited monitoring carried out.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"Scotland has a grim secret sewage problem. We know there are tens of thousands of spills but the true figure may be far higher.

"My party has consistently called on the Scottish Government to massively ramp up monitoring of sewage dumping in Scotland.

"It is welcome that progress is belatedly being made, however much more needs to be done to get to grips with the problem because we are still leagues behind England where 100% of overflows are monitored.

"To turn the tide on this crisis, Scottish Liberal Democrats have published plans for a Clean Water Act that would see a new blue flag system for Scotland's rivers, as well as vital updates to our sewage network and a clamp down on discharges."