Sewage: 'They added housing to a system that can't cope'

Mr Neate has been campaigning for five years on the issue. It was whilst out walking, close to the John Muir Way in 2017, that he was shocked to come across, within ten metres of the path, tampons and sewage debris coming out of a pipe adjacent to the main road. It was spewing into the intertidal zone of Aberlady Bay.

He then began investigating other combined sewage overflows in the area, including the pipe where Gullane treatment works discharges into the sea in Aberlady bay, an official Local Nature reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Ramsar site, with sand dunes, salt marsh, mud flats and sea grass. It's considered a prime spot to watch the flocks of thousands of pink-footed geese when they arrive in autumn.

When he approached Scottish Water, he said, they claimed that the spills were just the normal, authorised operation of the system in response to heavy rain.

“I was convinced,” he said, “it was nothing to do with that – and eventually I arrived at the conclusion that the sewage works actually can’t cope with what you’ve got. They added housing to a system not upgraded to cope'”

His concern is that the area around the treatment works has seen significant development in recent years, ranging from luxury five-bedroom homes at CALA’s Saltcoats Grange, some of which cost almost £1 million, to two-bedroom flats. 470 homes were scheduled, with most of these now already built and connected.

Scottish Water has primary responsibility for the assessment of whether their wastewater treatment works have the capacity to take on local sewage and new connections. SEPA, as regulator, oversees this.

However, Mr Neate has documents that he said demonstrate that Gullane Wastewater Treatment works was already operating at capacity before the new homes were added.

These include a letter from an asset planner at Scottish Water in 2016, in response to a proposal for a development at Gullane Fentoun Gait, which stated that the Gullane WWTW was currently at capacity. “In order to facilitate this development,” it said, “a Growth project for WWTW will be required."

A sewage outlet at Aberlady Bay

A later letter from the same office said that there was sufficient capacity for a different development as it represented a replacement for a Fire Service training centre which was closing. Scottish Water also later claimed it had found a solution in the more frequent removal of sewage sludge from the site.

Mr Neate said: “But this alone, would not solve the problem. In effect, since 2016, nothing has been done to change things. This had no impact on the hydraulic capacity of the treatment works, which is the key issue. “

He summarised: “Scottish Water and SEPA were aware in 2016 the works hydraulic shortfall meant that it was continually operating in breach of its statutory discharge licence. All parties involved knew that the capacity shortfall could only be achieved by a prohibitively expensive enlargement of the works. Scottish Water opted for pragmatic solutions to the dilemma.”

Aberlady Bay is classified as shellfish waters, and contains a razor clam fishery. Close by is Gullane beach which has bathing waters status and is monitored throughout the summer (and is rated excellent).

Aberlady Bay photographed by Jonathan Head

SEPA’s regulatory method on sewer overflows states that: “minimum design criteria should be such that spills do not exceed 3 significant spill events per bathing season into bathing waters or 10 significant spill events per annum into shellfish waters".

However, in spite of what Mr Neate observed and photographed, SEPA had received no reports of unauthorised sewage discharges.

This, Mr Neate, pointed out, was not because there were no overspills at all. During a meeting last year, Scottish Water confirmed that between July 1 and September 4 last year, there were 179 overspills, and 1,001 between January 1, 2017, and, May 11, 2020.

Rather, it was because they were assumed to be happening as part of the normal functioning of the system, in which overspills are allowed during heavy rain.

Mr Neate said that, in a meeting he attended, Scottish Water confirmed that there were no procedures to correlate any overspill incidents with the local rainfall data.

Hence, he observed, the assumption that the discharges were happening during rainfall was not based on any actual data. "All those 1200 occasions – 2.8-a-day during one period – could they really all have been heavy rain?”

Mr Neate said that any overspill in dry weather is a breach of the discharge licence and should be classified as unauthorised. “This is an unacceptable Control System deficiency” he said, “ in which both parties have by default classified all the discharges as authorised even those likely to be in breach of the statutory discharge licence condition.”

He added: “SEPA have a statutory obligation to prosecute the polluter, but they are not investigating or pursuing this.”

A Scottish Water spokesperson said; “Scottish Water is committed to supporting growing communities. We review all new connections to our network on a case-by-case basis, working with developers and local authorities to ensure there is no detrimental impact to existing customers or the environment.

We have engaged extensively with the community in Aberlady over a number of years and have been open and transparent with our figures and findings. We have carried out surveys and modelling on the waste water network and assets and it is operating as it should.

“Gullane Waste Water Treatment Works is now at full capacity and any new housing will require work to be done to the wastewater infrastructure in the area in order to be able to connect. East Lothian Council, as the planning authority, are aware of this and we will work with them and the development community to come up with sustainable solutions to accommodate any further growth."

The current phase of housing development under East Lothian Local Development Policy 1 is nearing completion. But Mr Neate’s fear is that still more housing will be added in the next phase of the development plan.

Mr Neate said: "There are already too many for the works to cope with. My fear is that in the new round of development in East Lothian, there will be even more.

“I also think that if this capacity issue is happening in Gullane, it must be happening all over the place, where new developments are happening, but I’m the only one who has investigated it because I have the background to go into it.

"I know this is happening at my local treatment works. I suspect it is happening at other sites."

An East Lothian Council spokesperson said: “The wastewater treatment works is operated by Scottish Water. SEPA are the environmental regulator and therefore the council has no comment to make."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “The Housing Minister has been clear that the infrastructure impacts of development proposals are taken into account in the planning process, which is administered in the first instance by planning authorities, with the involvement of key agencies including Scottish Water as appropriate.

“Scottish Water has committed to provide further capacity to meet the demand from developments in the East Lothian Local Development Plan 2018, Local Housing Strategies and other relevant existing plans. This is the same approach taken across Scotland.”

Nathan Critchlow-Watton, Head of Water and Planning at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) said:

“Scotland’s water quality is at its highest level ever, with 87% of our water environment rated as good or better. We have no indication to suggest that the wastewater treatment works, and combined sewer overflow, are not compliant with the licence conditions.

“We welcome the increased public interest in the environment we all share, and the growing aspirations for our water environment. The River Basin Management plan sets a water quality target for 92% of the water environment to be in good or better condition by 2027.

“We’re clear in our regulatory role in ensuring Scottish Water delivers against the Urban Waters Route Map, prioritising investment where it will most benefit our environment and communities.

“While Scotland already enjoys some of the best water quality in Europe, SEPA is focused on ensuring improvement continues in the years ahead. We’ll do that by working together with public partners and regulated businesses, using our enforcement powers when necessary.”