Scottish Government rebuked by own watchdog over sewage dumping

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton today said “there are no consequences for sewage dumping in Scotland” after SNP ministers rejected calls from their own independent watchdog to urgently overhaul sewage dumping rules and new analysis drew comparisons with the disgraced Thames Water.

Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) found that Scottish Government guidance on sewage dumping fails to reflect the requirement for this to only occur in exceptional circumstances, set out by the European Court of Justice. However, the Scottish Government has refused to prioritise new guidance, which the ESS says leaves "an unacceptable lack of clarity" and “limits effective implementation and application of the law”.

It comes as new analysis by the Scottish Liberal Democrats exposes how sewage dumping by Scotland’s government-owned water company compares to that of Thames Water - this week fined more than £100m for environmental breaches involving routine sewage dumping.

Ofwat found 30% of Thames Water’s overflows spilled more than 60 times in 2021 and that it could not demonstrate that "these spills resulted from exceptional circumstances, or that it would have been excessively costly to address the spills from these storm overflows”. However, the equivalent figure for the sewage dumping pipes monitored year-round in Scotland is 42%.

Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“While Thames Water is hit with massive fines, there are no consequences for sewage dumping under this SNP Government.

“To make matters worse, SNP ministers are even defying their own independent environmental watchdog by failing to crack on and update 30-year-old sewage rules riddled with holes.

"To turn the tide on the sewage scandal, Scottish Liberal Democrats have published plans for a Clean Water Act that would bring our sewage network into the 21st century, clamp down on dumping and get to the bottom of this disgusting practice."