Scottish Water failure to follow up Holy Loch spilling "woefully complacent"

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton and candidate for Argyll and Bute Alan Reid have today branded Scottish Water's failure to follow up on analysis by Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) into sewage being dumped into the Holy Loch even on dry days as "woefully complacent".

In its report into sewage dumping in Scotland the ESS identified 31 potential instances where sewage was dumped at the Ardnadam sewage pumping station on dry weather days. Sewage dumping on dry days is considered to be more damaging to the environment because discharges will not be diluted by rainfall.

The ESS report mentions Scottish Water and SEPA have identified 12 overflows at risk of spilling on dry days, however the ESS suggested this figure is likely an underestimate.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request asked Scottish Water whether they had conducted any follow up analysis into the risk of dry spilling into the Holy Loch near Dunoon. Their response was that "Scottish Water can confirm that we have not carried out any follow up investigations as a result of ESS' assessment of DWF (Dry weather flow) overflow risk in Dunoon."

Scottish Liberal Democrats have announced plans for a Clean Water Act which would see:

• Scotland’s Victorian sewage network updated;
• Every sewage dump monitored and published with binding targets for their reduction;  
• A blue flag system for Scotland’s rivers;    
• A complete ban on the release of sewage in protected areas such as bathing waters.  

Alan Reid said:

"Scottish Water's failure to conduct any follow up investigations into ESS warnings about dry spilling in the Holy Loch is woefully complacent.

"Dry spilling is especially dangerous to the environment because sewage discharges will not have been diluted at all by rainwater

"The ESS directly told Scottish Water and SEPA that it was underestimating the scale of the problem, so to sit on their hands and not at least investigate the potential issues raised in Dunoon is simply not good enough.

"This is another example of the Scottish Government letting down residents on the west coast."

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

"The Scottish Government needs to get serious about sewage dumping in Scotland and stop being spin doctors for the outdated standards of the government owned water company.

"To turn the tide on this scandal, Scottish Liberal Democrats have published plans for a Clean Water Act that would see a clamp down on discharges and get to the bottom of this disgusting practice."