The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland (ERCS) said Scottish Water had committed “a criminal offence”
One Edinburgh councillor has expressed her concern at unsafe levels of E.coli and other bacteria being found in Musselburgh’s Fisherrow Sands
The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland said Scottish Water had committed “a criminal offence” in breaching its water licence for Eastfield pumping station with excess sewage leaks.Eastfield transfers wastewater from Edinburgh and the Lothians to a sewage treatment plant.
Problems were repeatedly found at the site between 2017 and 2021. Scottish Water was reprimanded by Sepa for being late to report sewage leaks in 2020 and stressed that Fisherrow was Sepa’s “biggest concern” ahead of 2021. CSOs are pipes which allow rainwater and sewage to be released into waterways during heavy rainfall – reducing the risk of sewage backing up in homes.
A member of the public said that on August 9, Fisherrow became “brown and smelly with a lot of toilet paper visible on the beach” – an issue that “happens fairly often but is normally only bad after rain.” In November, Scottish Water warned that Sepa had sampled the bathing waters downstream of the Eastfield, finding “high counts [of contaminants] on a number of occasions this year”.
Sepa wanted “firmer commitments” from Scottish Water to bring about a resolution. Minutes from a May 2022 Esk River Improvement Group meeting state that works were still ongoing just ahead of the bathing season. Any activity which has or could significantly impact Scotland’s water environment requires a Controlled Activity Regulations licence from Sepa – including Eastfield. The ERCS highlighted that it “a criminal offence to contravene a CAR licence”.
BOTH Scottish Water and Sepa said issues at Eastfield had now been resolved. The site had “operating as designed” since the last bathing season – which spans from June 1 to September 15 – was regularly inspected and maintained, and would be reassessed for further improvements.
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