Seven areas fail Sepa tests for second year runningBy Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
For the second year running, beaches across Scotland have been badly polluted by sewage in breach of safety limits, endangering the health of paddlers, swimmers and surfers.
Monitoring results released today by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) reveal that seven designated bathing waters have again failed to meet 30-year-old legal standards. Another six undesignated beaches also failed to make the grade.
A further 20 designated bathing waters narrowly missed breaching the limits but nevertheless recorded high levels of pollution. Overall this summer was as least as bad as last year, which was the worst for six years.
Since the beginning of June, Sepa has analysed 1520 samples from 80 designated bathing waters, compared with 1200 samples from 61 bathing waters in 2007. The bathing season is officially due to end tomorrow.
By far the worst contaminated beach was at Saltcoats and Ardrossan in North Ayrshire. Four samples taken there in July, August and September contained concentrations of faecal coliforms in excess of the European limits.
Heavy pollution was also detected at Ettrick Bay on the Isle of Bute, at Portobello Central in Edinburgh and at Cruden Bay in Aberdeenshire.
The other designated beaches that failed the safety limits were in Aberdeen, Rosehearty in Aberdeenshire and Sandyhills in Dumfries and Galloway.
The undesignated beaches that failed were: Greenan and Barassie in South Ayrshire; Stevenston and Largs in North Ayrshire; Fisherrow West in East Lothian; and Lower Largo in Fife.
Government ministers and Sepa blamed this summer's appalling weather for causing the pollution. Heavy rain has flooded sewers, making them overflow, and also washed animal faeces from the land into the sea.
August downpours in Portobello, for example, overwhelmed the Joppa sewage pumping station nearby. And at Ettrick Bay, swollen burns carried animal wastes from farms into the sea.
Michael Russell, the environment minister, said: "I am disappointed to see that some of our bathing waters have not met the required European standard. The bad weather has had a deeply detrimental effect on the quality of our bathing water, which is very unfortunate."
Russell recalled that bathing waters had been very clean in 2006, and promised to try and achieve that again. "I am determined that we will achieve those standards as the norm even if our weather conditions are making it difficult at the moment," he said.
However, Sepa pointed out that rainfall couldn't be blamed for every poor result. Where sewage leaks had been to blame, the agency had taken "swift enforcement action", it said.
Calum McPhail, Sepa's bathing water expert, stressed that nearly half of the designated bathing waters still managed to reach the highest guideline standard, with a few recording hardly any pollution. But he added: "However, there is clearly more to do."
Calum Duncan, Scottish Conservation Manager at the Marine Conservation Society, said the group was "disappointed but not surprised" at the results, adding: "While welcome billions have been invested to upgrade Scotland's once-creaking sewerage system, there is still some way to go."
Scottish Water, which runs the sewerage system, accepted that heavy rain could cause overload. "We are investing significantly to deliver a cleaner, fresher environment across Scotland at thousands of waste water treatment works," a spokesperson for the company said.
