Ministers must ‘get serious’ on sewage dumping in bathing waters, say Lib Dems

Ministers must “get serious” about the impact of sewage dumping on Scotland’s bathing waters, the Lib Dems have said.

The party published an analysis of the measured bathing water quality during the 2025 swimming season, finding that 45, more than half, of the waterways breached pollution standards.

The Lib Dems’ analysis was based on measurements of E-coli and intestinal enterococci (IE) levels in bathing waters taken by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) between mid-May and mid-September.

The highest level of E-coli was recorded at Irvine beach in July, where the party assessed it was 15 times the low quality boundary.

Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said his party had plans for legislation to clean up waterways.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “I am extremely concerned that Scotland’s bathing waters risk being ruined by shocking levels of sewage dumping.

“Our bathing waters are visited by thousands of Scots every year, from swimmers to pet owners.

“They ought to be able to enjoy our coastline without worrying about what is in the water.

“The SNP Government needs to finally get serious about the impact of sewage dumping in Scotland.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have published plans for a Clean Water Act that would see a new blue flag system for Scotland’s rivers, as well as vital updates to our sewage network and a clamp down on discharges.

“Ministers need to stop their excuses and toughen up on sewage dumping across Scotland.”

Last year Sepa estimated that 85% of Scotland’s bathing waters would be of an “excellent” or “good” standard in 2025.

The SNP has said that the quality of bathing waters has substantially improved since new regulations were implemented in 2015.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “97% of Scotland’s bathing waters currently achieve the bathing water quality standards with 85% being rated ‘good’ or ‘excellent’.

“We take poor water quality reports very seriously. Bathing water quality can be impacted by a range of bacterial sources following heavy rain and Sepa investigates incidents in order to seek overall improvements.

“We encourage everyone to make use of Sepa’s resources and information to help make an informed decision about where and when to bathe.

“Scottish Water is committing up to £500 million of investment to increase monitoring and reporting of overflows, reduce overflows, improve water quality and reduce sewer related debris in the environment, and overflows that are found to operate incorrectly or impact on water quality are prioritised for investment.”