Sewage spills in Scotland largely unmonitored

Untreated sewage has been pumped into Scottish waters nearly 60,000 times over the past five years, new figures reveal, as water bosses claimed monitoring of discharges was “fantastic”.

Scottish Water has recorded 58,304 incidents of “overflows” since 2018, representing 173 million cubic metres of discharge, with a total spill duration of about 69 years across the network.

The figures are likely to be a significant underestimate, as just 4 per cent of sewage overflows in Scotland have active monitors on site, compared with 91 per cent in England.

Simon Parsons, director of environment, planning and assurance at Scottish Water, insisted that 99 per cent of overflows are rainwater run-offs from roads and roofs, rather than sewage. He told BBC Radio 4’s Good Morning Scotland