Today, in the Guardian we read:
Thames, Yorkshire and Northumbrian Water will be fined a record £168m between them for a “catalogue of failure” over illegal sewage discharges into rivers and the sea after the industry regulator’s biggest ever investigation.
The water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, has proposed penalties of £104m for Thames, £47m for Yorkshire and £17m for Northumbrian for failing to manage their wastewater treatment works and networks, including their operation of storm overflows. It said it was the first of more crackdowns to come.
On 28 December 2023, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency fined two companies for illegal discharges of sewage in 2023:
For a discharge of sewage effluent to the water environment, SEPA fined £600 each:
Sands Caravan and Camping Limited, Wester Ross
Robert Main Ellen, Muir of Ord
So, the usual arithmetic to make fair comparison.
£1 200 in Scotland, pro rata, would be £12 000 in England but for just those three companies, it was £168 000 000,
In 2020, Scottish Water was fined £19 000 for illegal sewage discharges into the Clyde. I can find no other such incident in recent years.
Sources:
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
But according to ACH Scotland is worse than England.
I note with interest BBC Scotland is not interested in this and not asking Sarwar to comment.
https://news.sky.com/story/eluned-morgan-selected-as-waless-new-first-minister-after-vaughan-gethings-resignation-13189445
LikeLike
ACH??
Because of the far lower density of population in Scotland most of the discharge monitoring is in the more populous parts of the country. So, a smaller percentage of the outflows in Scotland are routinely monitored.
I suspect that is why Scotland is deemed ‘worse’.
It is a little known non-fact that all untreated sewage from China and India is discharged via non monitored sewage pipes in Sutherland.
Alasdair Macdonald
LikeLiked by 1 person
” Because of the far lower density of population in Scotland… ” – Sorry Alasdair but not so…. SEPA have long targeted the greatest pollution irrespective of population levels – They investigate any instance of pollution back to it’s source, and whether it is a SW, farming, industry etc. problem, it is always promptly dealt with.
It is a little known fact the vast majority of public sewerage overflows in Scotland rarely activate, and some never have since construction, they are the fuses which blow when all else fails.
SW had intended purchase of additional monitoring kit for roving investigations, quite how ACH-him got wind of it is anybody’s guess, but he made political capital out of it by banging on about %age discharges monitored, as if Scotland has the same problems parts of England have experienced.. We don’t….
It is almost 40 years since work began in Scotland actively separating foul/storm from combined sewers (standard combined up until the late 1960s), and they’ll still be doing it in another century – The scale of that problem in England was absolutely massive and expensive, so the Tories solved it by privatisation…
LikeLike
“Water Regulator Ofwat announced it’s biggest ever penalties on 3 companies for polluting British waterways” stated ITV’s GMB breakfast programme.
Ofwat is the body responsible for economic regulation of the privatised water and sewerage industry in England and Wales.
The 3 companies fined were all English private water companies Thames water, Yorkshire water & Northumbrian water (None of whom serve Scotland yet ITV GMB programme referred to these penalties as being a result of polluting British waterways)
The fact that England’s and Wales waterways are controlled by private companies where as Scotland’s is not makes no difference to the media or other concerned individuals and organisations.
Indeed we have an organisation that was set up in response to the polluted waters in England & Wales caused by Private Water companies that is called ‘River Action UK‘ .
As an organisation ‘River Action UK‘ highlights the damage being done by Private water companies in that they, as Private water companies , are failing to address sewage problems, are failing to invest in various water infrastructure , are also causing these terrible pollution incidents found in Rivers and waterways in England & Wales as they as private companies prefer to prioritise their profits and maximise their shareholders dividends as opposed to fulfilling their obligations as Water companies who should be serving the public in England & Wales.
The organisation River Action UK has a website where they note various campaigns on actions they have been involved in and are still involved with against privatised Water companies for the state of rivers etc in England and Wales yet this being the case they as an organisation still call their organisation ‘River Action UK‘ which tends to give people the impression that the terrible state resulting from Private water companies in rivers, waterways etc is very much a UK wide problem.
But now we also have the framing of current riots in English Cities and Towns being referred to by that same media and some individuals and politicians as “UK Riots in cities and Towns across the UK” also referred to as being ”Far right Riots sweep Britain” so it then is also conveniently framed as being a UK and British problem and not as one that is clearly currently a uniquely English problem.
Imagine if these riots had only started in various Scottish Cities & Towns and none were in England’s cities & Towns .
So that being the case would that same media and other individuals/politicians then be promoting them as “UK Riots” and as a “Far Right British problem” or would it ,as per , be promoted as being a Scottish incident/problem with the headlines stating ‘Riots in Scotland’ and there being a ‘Far Right problem in Scotland’.
We would also no doubt see and hear via the media and others the Scottish government being subjected to a barrage of accusations from both the media and opposition politicians on their lack of action on the riots and indeed they would be promoted as being the root cause for rioting via their bad governance and supposed obsession with independence over government matters.
The fact that no riots have as yet happened in Scotland makes no difference to the media and other individuals/politicians reporting, being interviewed and tweeting on this matter as they all must present this as a British or UK incident(s)/problem via these riots.
Of course the problem with that is that other countries in the world then also present it as a UK/British problem and that then impacts our (Scotland’s) reputation in the world and also impacts our Scottish Tourism if other countries are advising their citizens not to travel to the UK! This then also has a negative economic consequence for Scotland.
Plus the fact that only England’s and Wales waterways are controlled by private companies also makes no difference to the media and other individuals and politicians as their headlines and broadcasts will still include ‘UK‘ and British’ within them when they refer to problems in rivers/waterways.
Just as Brexit had Omerta applied via the media we now are also witnessing these riots being falsely presented as a UK/British problem when I would say that what we are actually witnessing is very much rampant English (or British) Nationalism (both apparently being synonymous) .
However that fact, as in this being English/British nationalism, appears to also be subjected to Omerta by the media and politicians. No one I have heard in either the media or via politicians including the current PM has called this English or British Nationalism running riot. Yet we see many of the rioters carrying Union Jacks or English flags which seems to be being ignored by both the media and politicians.
Of course the same media and politicians are less shy when it comes to voicing their objections and false observations on those like us who support Scottish independence where they refer to us as ‘Nationalists’ , “Separatist’s” and also ‘Nasty Nats’ (Daily Express) and where referendums on independence are referred to as being ‘Divisive’.
Apparently Social media is largely in the frame for these riots meanwhile the succession of disgusting front page headlines from the gutter British/English press on Migrants where they were referred to as akin to being the ‘scum of the earth’ seems to be being neglected by the media and politicians as a source of inciting much of the anger in some of these rioters and also the language via specific politicians and broadcasters like the BBC & GB News for example , the Tory party , Reform Party UK and others who were all obsessed with foreigners coming in boats to their Little England.
If those in Scotland who are supportive of their supposed beloved UK Union want to also be seen in the same light as those currently shaming England just now then I for one find that a bizarre perspective for any sane person to want to take but that is how it is being presented to the world. That is that the UK is a no go violent zone for visitors to stay away from.
The real problem is that we in Scotland must constantly be tarred with the same brush with England when it, England, is involved in or has a negative association or a problem has occurred in England alone yet when anything derives solely from Scotland alone it is then ,as a negative/problem, presented as being only a problem that comes from Scotland alone with absolutely no mention of Britain or the rest of the UK .
And that my friends is what happens when your media and your politics are both controlled by another country.
LikeLike
… and it’s Scottish Drugs deaths , not UK drug deaths , when the media are attacking Scotland’s Government – despite the impact of County Lines gangs FROM England on the source of illegal drugs in Scotland !
LikeLike
Who wants to bet that companies who refuse to invest in the services they run for the public good so they can pay shareholders as much money as possible will not pay these fines? It will be the government who will, once again, bail them out with taxpayers money.
So, before Labour drag out that old chestnut, PFI, let me remind you that private investment in public services is always a Triple Whammy for the public.
1 always higher prices/costs/fares
2 always poor services
3 taxpayers money always bails them out when their lack of investment begins to bite.
Oh Well, we can’t say we weren’t warned.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ofwat should have done this years ago, but were under pressure from the Tories not to do so…
Penalties such as ‘fines’ are built into the business model of these companies, but with HMG pulling all the strings on inspection and enforcement, it rarely happened – Look to the calibre of Ministers who have been in charge for a clue as to what could possibly go wrong….
We should thank our lucky stars that a few stalwarts scuppered plans for privatisation of water in Scotland, and that SEPA were never constrained by politicians – Otherwise it would all have gone to shit as it has in England….
LikeLike
Wife and I were camping ( Upper Largo) 3 weeks ago, met a German couple who were on an overnight stop, annual holiday( every year for the last ten yrs) was a month touring Scotland in what was the tiniest caravan I’ve ever seen, anyway long story short they always drank Scottish water even back home. Now I didn’t know we exported Scottish water? Scotland has an international reputation for the quality of its food products, what I also didn’t know was that because of that reputation some cheese manufacturers ( England) label their products as Scottish type cheddar cheese. He says you have to watch what your buying because it’s no where near as good as the real thing. Sneaky or what?
Golfnut
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’ve seen similar here with ‘Scottish Cheddar” from NI and sometimes Holland….
I bought some ‘Scottish Cheddar’ from Kaufland recently, their own brand complete with a Saltire on the packaging ( glad to see that resume after the Tory Union flag debacle ) – The ‘Scottish’ connection ? It was packaged by McLelland Cheese Packing Ltd in Stranraer, but could have come from anywhere, but probably NI – Orange rubber….
LikeLike
Both sad and interesting, the EU of course was particular about provenance which I suspect is no longer applicable to us. I hope you find a good source of real Scottish cheese though I’m sure where you are has plenty of good local cheese. I always loved sampling local produce, no longer possible as I refuse point blank to apply for a british passport. I’ve done enough travelling so no loss to me.
Golfnut.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Highland Spring, Deeside water exported all over the world. Bottled up fresh and clean. Scotland has the best drinking water in the world. In many countries water is not fit to drink from the tap or otherwise. It is a vast problem for many people.
London S/E water is recycled many times. Additive induced. Bad water can produce many health problems. Put a strain on public health care. The plastic bottles can create a vast recycling problem. Expensive waste problem worldwide. Cartons can be used instead. Or water fountains to restock containers to cut out the waste. Desalination in the Middle East. Hot and getting hotter.
The privatisation of water companies in the South was a big mistake. Expensive and unmanageable. The water companies are fleecing people. Another bad policy, for a cheap profit that has turned out dear. Westminster never look ahead. Live for today not tomorrow. Cheap fix never works. Just turns out more expensive and the poorer pay.
LikeLike
New Aldershot Labour MP Alex baker says that people (far right groups in this case ) don’t feel listened to so she met with the group ‘Rushmoor People First’ behind what she alleges are “peaceful protests” outside accommodation for people seeking asylum that have terrorised these hotel residents.
‘Rushmoor People First’ Facebook page has a picture of people with placards that state “Stop the Invasion” , “Stop the Boats”, “Rushmoor homes for Rushmoor people” which is very similar to the kind of headlines we witnessed in some of the right wing gutter press who demonise people they call “Illegal immigrants” who they declared were ‘coming over here (England) taking our jobs and houses and the boats they came in were all filled with young men not women and children’
There is also on their Facebook page a picture of ET with the caption ” Best illegal alien we’ve ever had learnt English and f****d off home”.
Check out their Facebook page and see some of the comments and then ponder why this new Labour MP for Aldershot thought it appropriate to meet with these people and also seemingly support them.
This Labour MP did a video where she declared “she has been working on the issues we (Labour government) inherited on Asylum accommodation every day since she was elected last month . She said she has met with the immigration minister to voice her communities concerns about the plans for Pinehurst Hill Side (accommodation for Asylum seekers) a scheme that was brought in she said by Conservative ministers under a ‘cloak of secrecy’ and has not been thought through and she continues to oppose this scheme”
(Suddenly it seems not so strange to see why she was elected as the new Labour MP as far as some people in her constituency were concerned when she is vocalising things like this and pandering to those constituents whose sole obsession is with targeting those they call ‘illegal immigrants’……eat your heart out Natalie Elphicke there’s a new anti immigrant warrior MP in town).
She also declared that ‘Rushmoor People First’ have been organising ‘peaceful protests on this issue’ but she fails to acknowledge their rhetoric on their Facebook page.
So it seems that it’s not only Farage and Tommy Robinson stirring up discontent against Migrants but we also have new Labour MP’s siding with groups whose opinions and language used against Asylum seekers is to the say least questionable.
It’s also strange that this new Labour MP should declare that she has been “working on the ‘issues’ of Asylum accommodation every day since she was elected in the GE” so I guess the cost of living crisis is not important, Climate change is a secondary concern (so much for Labour’s GB Energy) and instead we are still in the territory politically of the likes of Suella Braverman and GB News with this new Labour MP targeting immigrants instead of trying to instil some empathy towards Asylum seekers (sadly lacking in some of the constituents she is speaking to and also lacking in her as well) .
How many more Labour MP’s down South won in the recent GE with similar sentiments against immigrants to this Labour Aldershot MP I wonder ?
Oh but as far as the media and the Labour party are concerned it’s us in Scotland who support independence who are the “Extremists” and who are “Divisive” and who deserved to be labelled negatively as “Separatists” as if within the UK that is a negative or a extreme position to have (all things considered) .
Little Britain indeed where we are back to ‘British jobs for British workers’ but is it British or is it English with some of these Labour politicians ?
No wonder Labour support Brexit when they select candidates like Alex Baker whose main focus is apparently keeping her constituency for ‘Local people only’ !
LikeLike
High profile liberal political commentator Otto English has tweeted on the wife of Tory Councillor arrested for Racial hatred.
He tweeted “Just the wife of a Conservative councillor being arrested after calling for hotels with asylum seekers to be set on fire. Perfectly normal presumably. .. for some monstrous people”
Yet somehow he is silent on the Aldershot Labour MP noted in the above comment at 7.43am.
I think it’s not only some of the right wing people who are selective in who and what they highlight as being offensive and wrong as we note that some of those who are supposedly liberal minded also tend to ignore some of the more unsavoury aspects linked to some Labour MP’s and Labour Lords.
Otto is also one of many ardent political commentators who have been against Brexit since inception yet seems like others to be somehow complacent on Labour supporting it as a policy that they intend as a government, to maintain for their UK.
Otto apparently dislikes “Nationalists” and “Nationalism” which not only covers English nationalism but us in Scotland too where it seems that for him there is no distinction between the two.
LikeLike
Nearly bought a house in Rushmoor in 1990. Lucky escape.
LikeLike
😂
LikeLike
😉
Great escape.
LikeLike
BBC GMS Stephen Jardine
Phone in about the English Riots.
He states ” Have you experienced racism in Scotland it’s very easy to feel that we are different in some way up here. This sort of sense of Scottish exceptionalism that these rules don’t apply up here”
Wonderful is it not . There are no riots here in Scotland but that does no matter to the BBC as we in Scotland should still consider ourselves no better or no different from those currently rioting in England against immigrants.
Rioters who we see via pictures and in news reports who wrap themselves in the same flag (British one) that Keir Starmer displays either side of him when he makes a speech or an announcement and also some rioters whom we see either carrying or draping the English flag over themselves.
Why is the BBC so constantly active in talking down Scotland. (Rhetorical Q)
Who is this “we here” that Jardine is referring to ?
Not me I hope because I have no animosity against migrants coming here and no inclination to riot or loot in my city. I am also not a Racist as I judge people by their character not the colour of their skin or their nationality if that nationality is different to mine.
But yes I do feel different to Racists as do many of my friends, relatives and neighbours so Jardine and his BBC do not speak for me , on behalf of me, or anyone I know or indeed do they as a broadcaster in Scotland reflect accurately many people in Scotland who do not hide behind a false Scottish exceptionalism but who ,like many decent English people, have no irrational animosity or fear of people from other countries coming to live and work in their communities.
Indeed the opposite is the case as many other nationalities contribute positively to our country when they come here to live and work. So who are the racists here in Scotland then and which political parties do they, as Racists, support and I wonder what their constitutional position is in relation to the UK and Scotland Mr Jardine ? Same one(s) as the BBC I think.
I think we all know what flag will be predominant should the events as seen in England come here to Scotland and one suspects that the media will rub their hands in glee as they long for Scotland to be involved in rioting so that they can then state we are the same as rest of UK (England).
Even Anas Sarwar recently stated that “Scotland should not be complacent about potential disorder in Scotland” yet he also tweeted that “Glasgow has always rejected the forces of division and hate” in respect to the supposed planned March in September for a ‘Pro UK Rally’. A somewhat confused and conflicting message from Labour in Scotland’s current media favoured leader. Also strange that he should note that Glasgow is not “Divisive” when his party states independence referendums are “Divisive” and Glasgow was and I hope still is a YES City.
Of course both the BBC and Labour always insist that Scotland should follow England’s lead and it seems that even includes rioting.
How dare we In Scotland not follow England again.
Though the BBC here are doing their best to incite certain individuals to copy those rioters in England as apparently the BBC here think we too have an issue with so called ‘illegal’ immigrants . Since when ?
It appears that the BBC here also wants us all to know that we too in Scotland are not immune to being Racists but surely we need to know who the racists are and what their politics are if we are to try to address and eliminate such horrible bigoted feelings from our country.
Also it was my understanding that Scotland needed more not less immigrants to come here to live and work. However I suspect that media like the BBC will continue to wallow in the gutter via their respective debate, discussion and news programmes broadcast in Scotland which will always include specially invited and selected guests who have a particular constitutional position that concurs with that of the BBC and Labour politicians. Thus the real arguments will drown in Dog whistle politics and also false messaging as the focus will as usual be on castigating those supportive of Scottish independence while commending those supportive of the UK being maintained.
This site is called ‘Talking up Scotland’ and we in Scotland have to endure manufactured news via TV, Radio and newspapers whose main purpose is only in ‘Talking down Scotland’.
Perhaps if the media like the BBC had not been so subservient to the likes of Nigel Farage in giving him an undeserved extensive media coverage and also a constant flow of right wing political commentators guesting on BBC QT every week then the wrong (hateful) message would not have been promoted as much by broadcasters like the BBC who pandered to bigots and racists long before the inception of channels like GB News were created.
Truth is that with the existence of the BBC there was no gap to fill in listening to the message from those on the right of politics as the BBC were only too happy to fill that gap on political debate/discussion programmes and also via guests on their TV news programmes and radio programmes by offering these right wingers a mainstream media platform to voice their particular brand of (hateful) politics that only really promoted Hate and division.
Perhaps Stephen Jardine should be reflecting more on his own employer the BBC before he seeks to target Scotland and it’s people, our FM and our government yet again . As we Scotland are once more the constant butt of their, BBC’s, warped British agenda all to keep their supposed UK Union intact.
That’s what happens when your media is controlled by another country.
LikeLike