Lib Dems reveal private company overseeing hundreds of sewage dumps

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today revealed that more than 500 sewage overspills took place at sites managed by private firms in just twelve months, including more than 100 at the Edinburgh Waste Water treatment work at Seafield, run by Veolia.

A Scottish Liberal Democrat freedom of information request has revealed that there are 12 sewerage assets managed under PFI contracts. Of these, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) were able to provide overflow data for nine, all managed by Veolia, a French utility provider. Across these nine assets, there were 518 spills in 2023, with dumping taking place for more than 3,500 hours.

Seafield is Scotland's largest waste water treatment works processing 300 million litres of waste water every day. 165 dumping events took place at the site, with sewage spilling out for 890 hours.

Previously sewage spill data for Edinburgh has not been available as Scottish Water’s regular data publications only contains information for overflows monitored by Scotland’s government-owned water company. Overflow data from PFI assets is submitted directly to SEPA which does not proactively publish the data to the public.

In its report into sewage dumping in Scotland, Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS) called on SEPA to publish data from PFI overflows.

Commenting on the figures, Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said:

“The more digging you do into Scotland’s smelly secret, the more unpleasant surprises you come across.

“These figures reveal that next door to Edinburgh’s most popular beach, hundreds of sewage spills have taken place.

"There are various reasons why these sewage releases can happen. Scotland's sewage infrastructure is facing more and more pressure from housebuilding, dramatic weather events and the ravages of time which can lead to sewage being discharged from the system into rivers, beaches and waterways.

"In areas like the Highlands, Scottish Water have taken private sewage works back in house. Veolia need to urgently shape up or a similar change may be needed.

"Likewise, with this information not routinely being made public by SEPA, communities across Scotland will be worried that they do not have the full picture around sewage dumping near them.

"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. Scottish ministers need to stop their excuses and get tough on sewage dumping."