Over 1 billion litres of ‘sewage’ dumped in Highland waters affecting Dunnet Beach, Smoo Caves last year as LibDem David Green warns places ‘are being blighted’

More than one billion litres of watered-down “sewage” was dumped in waters around the Highlands last year sparking calls for a new Clean Water Act from the Liberal Democrats.

Caithness, Sutherland and Ross candidate David Green, amid mounting evidence of serious pollution, warned the figures could be the “tip of the iceberg”.

That is because Scottish Water does not monitor all overspills despite reports of people using the waters around the Highlands falling ill due to contaminated waters.

Mr Green’s Inverness and Nairn counterpart Neil Alexander added that “to think over 1 billion litres of sewage has been dumped in our Highland waters is boke-worthy.”

The cabinet secretary for climate action and energy Gillian Martin disputed the claims saying treated sewage is not the same thing as raw sewage or wastewater.

But the Mr Green pointed to examples of how some of the scenic and well-used coastal areas have been seriously blighted.

That included how untreated sewage was discharged into the Cromarty Firth near the Storehouse by Evanton and how sewage was blown into Smoo Cave and across Dunnet Beach.

A burst pipe discharged sewage into the River Thurso and there was a sewage runoff near the Golspie Wildcat Bike Trails.

In Caithness, Sutherland, and Ross there were 522 sewage spills in 2024, up from 442 the year previous, for a duration of almost 2473 hours which equals 103 days.

In the far north there are only four overflows with annual monitoring data – by Lochcarron, Balintore, Edderton, and Tain – but none are monitored for volume.

In addition to these spills, it can be revealed that there have been 51 complaints made to the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), dating back to 2022.

The latest Scotland-wide data shows sewage was dumped 24,398 times in 2024 but because only a small fraction of sewage overflow points in Scotland have full annual monitoring data.

Mr Green also cited the Marine Conservation Society whose analysis found sewage was discharged into seas around Scotland for more than 113,000 hours last year based on the 3.4 per cent of storm overflows that are monitored, compared to the 91 per cent in England.

Environmental Standards Scotland criticised outdated and vague regulations and recommended enhanced data collection and monitoring by SEPA.

In response, the LibDems claim their plan for a Clean Water Act would update the country’s Victorian sewage network, see every sewage dump monitored and published with binding targets for their reduction.

There would also be a blue flag system for Scotland’s rivers, and a complete ban on the release of sewage in protected areas such as bathing waters.

"It utterly stinks that beauty spots across the Highlands are being blighted by disgusting sewage dumping,” Mr Green said.

“These complaints, alongside the scale of overspill events, is a slap in the face to so many across our communities who work tirelessly to protect our local environment, both for locals and visitors alike.

“But given there are little to no consequences for dumping sewage in our rivers, lochs and beaches or indeed proper monitoring of local dumping sites for volume, what we know is but the tip of the iceberg. I fear the situation is much worse.”

Jason Simpson from Surfers Against Sewage, largely agreed, telling us that “there have been concerns about sewage in my local bay for years with local surfers suffering from similar infections and illnesses after surfing at our local reefs and beaches.

“Scottish Water recently added an overflow map to their website which shows when raw sewage is being discharged into our local river in Thurso, which then flows a few hundred meters into Thurso East which is one of the best surf locations in the UK if not Europe.

“After reviewing how often the discharges took place and for how long sewage is discharged for, it is only then we realised the magnitude of the problem because effectively every time it rains, raw sewage is discharged into our river mouth”.

But Ms Martin countered: “It is not accurate to call spills from the wastewater network ‘sewage dumps’ as typically, what is spilled is wastewater which has been highly diluted by rainwater.

“We take the issue of pollution very seriously.

“That is why Scottish Water is committing up to £500 million to further improve water quality, increase monitoring of the highest priority waters and tackle debris and spills. 87 per cent of Scotland’s entire water environment already has a ‘high’ or ‘good’ classification for water quality.”

A Scottish Water spokesperson said: “We are monitoring more overflows than ever before, providing more information on overflows than ever before and investing more than ever before in our waste water network.

“Scotland’s water quality is at its highest level ever and we remain committed to targeting resources and investment to preserve and protect Scotland’s water environment.

"Scotland has fewer monitors than England and Wales because strategic decisions were made many years ago to invest in hydraulic modelling to understand where there could be risks to environmental quality and to target investment accordingly, rather than the more blanket approach to monitor installation adopted in the rest of Britain.

“Our strategy has always been on prioritisation at key locations based on environmental benefit."

David Cooper, Senior Manager – Water and Land Unit at SEPA insisted that the watchdog is doing its job after it “required Scottish Water to produce the Improving Urban Waters Routemap”.

That move led to “a delivery plan to improve discharges from Combined Sewer Overflows and improve understanding of when and where discharges occur.

“Scottish Water has since installed 1000 new monitors at sewerage outfalls within 2km of all designated bathing waters. This near real-time information is now available to the public on Scottish Water’s overflow map.”

He added: “We will continue to monitor Scottish Water’s progress against delivery of the Routemap commitments, using our regulatory powers if required.”

Do you want to respond to this article? If so, click here to submit your thoughts and they may be published in print.