Scot Lib Dems reveal 88 sewage spills in Scottish schools

Scottish Liberal Democrats have revealed more than 80 sewage leaks in Scottish schools in the past four years as the party continued its campaign to clean up Scotland and press for an overhaul of Scotland’s Victorian sewage system.

Freedom of information requests submitted by the party have uncovered that 11 local authorities have recorded sewage leaks in schools since 2019. This includes 26 leaks in South Lanarkshire, 15 in Renfrewshire, 14 in Stirling, 11 in Highland, 5 in Aberdeen, 5 in Argyll & Bute, 5 in West Lothian, 3 in East Ayrshire, 2 in the Scottish Borders, 1 in Clackmannanshire and 1 in East Renfrewshire.

4 local authorities did not provide figures.

Freedom of information requests submitted by the party previously revealed that since 2019, 7 health boards have reported a total of 196 sewage leaks sewage leaks in hospitals.

Commenting on the figures, Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Not only did the SNP allow sewage to leak into our waterways more than 14,000 times last year, but it has also now emerged that there have been sewage leaks at our schools too.

“This will be worrying news for parents and pupils across Scotland.

“I hope that local authorities will be able to offer assurances that these issues have been addressed and will not happen again.

“The Scottish Government have starved local authorities of the money needed to overhaul aging schools for years. They must urgently work to ensure local authorities are properly funded, upgrade Scotland's Victorian sewage systems and prevent incidents like these."