Help Talking-up Scotland keep going

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In a TuS comment yesterday:

Scottish Water is being attacked for releasing data that shows a four-fold rise in ”overflows” in the last year . What the data also shows – but which is not reported – is that there has been 1000 new monitoring points added to the system , which naturally shows an ”increase” in overflows . The Scottish LibDem and The Sunday EXcess are reporting these ”overflows ” as ” sewage being dumped into our rivers and lochs ”. Scottish Water says this is not true as discharges are ”rainwater and ‘grey water ‘ from households /appliances . Discharges are heavily diluted in overflow conditions . Just another attempt to make Scotland look the same as our dirty southern neighbour ! Pathetic !

Searching came first upon the Sky News report, above, and:

Scottish Water recorded 100,041 wastewater overflows last year, which the Scottish Liberal Democrats claim is four times higher than the previous year. It coincides with the installation of more than 1,000 new ‘storm / combined sewer overflow monitors. Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie, above, has written to Climate Action and Rural Affairs Secretary Gillian Martin, urging her to take action.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/scottish-government-told-to-take-sewage-crisis-seriously-after-record-100000-spills/ar-AA2bDZad?ocid=BingNewsSerp

As you might expect from Scotland’s Lib Dems, the smelly effluent is more in their minds than in the overflows.

First, the headline figure is real in the sense that Scottish Water recorded 100,041 overflow events in 2025, up from 24,398 in 2024 but that jump is not evidence that Scotland suddenly started dumping four times as much sewage. It coincides with a large expansion of Event Duration Monitors (more than 1,000 extra units). These are mostly combined sewer overflows (CSOs) and related storm overflows. They are designed to operate in heavy rain so sewers do not flood homes and streets. Scottish Water makes clear:

Typically, during overflow events, around 99% of the excess water is surface water from roads and roofs, along with ‘grey’ water, which is wastewater from household or business appliances, sinks, and showers. Only around 1% comes from our toilets. This means that any wastewater released into our waterbodies is very diluted. https://www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Your-Waste-Water/Overflows/Overflows-Explained

Here’s a better measure of the problem:

In England 0% of estuaries and coastal waters score ‘high’ for ecological condition compared to 100% in Scotland

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going

Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going

Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421