Zero SNP MSPs back motion calling for sewage system upgrades

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has today expressed his disappointment that not a single SNP MSP has backed his parliamentary motion calling for details of every sewage dump to be properly recorded and published, and for the upgrading of Scotland’s ageing sewage system.

In the six weeks since the motion was filed, it has been backed by all Scottish Liberal Democrat MSPs as well as representatives of the Scottish Conservatives, Scottish Labour and the Scottish Greens. However, it has not been supported by a single SNP MSP.

In 2022 Scottish Water figures show there was a 30% increase in the number of sewage overflow events. In total 14,008 discharges were logged, up from 10,799 incidents in 2021.  

However there is reason to believe that this is a significant underestimate because only around 4% of the 3,614 sewage overflows in Scotland’s 31,000-mile sewer network are currently monitored. This contrasts with England, which has 14,470 overflows of which 91% are monitored.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader and Edinburgh Western MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton said:

“Finding agreement among Scotland’s fractious political parties can be a difficult task but I had hoped that if there was one issue that might unite MSPs it would be the desire to clamp down on sewage dumping and clean up our rivers and waterways.

“Across Scotland we know there were more than 14,000 sewage spills last year but people are being kept in the dark about the true scale of the problem because so many sewage outlets are unmonitored. Disappointingly it seems that SNP MSPs are perfectly happy with this grimy status quo.

“With or without the support of the SNP, I will continue to campaign for the Scottish Government-owned water company to record and publish all sewage discharges so we get a true picture.  Then we will need to accelerate measures to upgrade Scotland's Victorian sewage systems and prevent sewage from flowing into our rivers and onto our beaches."