Seil sewage system is waste of money, say islanders
AN £11.7 MILLION project to protect an area of the Argyll coast known for its shellfish is being compromised by the sheer volume of sewage ‘overspills’, claims an island protest group.
More than 50 per cent of the adult population of Seil, south of Oban, have signed a petition against a further proposal from Scottish Water which means abandoning some of the original scheme to pump raw sewage over a hill and release it barely treated into Easdale Bay.
Easdale Bay is known for its dolphins. They have been photographed in the area where the effluent would be pumped into the sea.
Problems started eight years ago when plans for a water treatment system on the Isle of Seil, stretching from the picturesque Bridge over the Atlantic, to Balvicar Bay, were rejected by the community. And eight years later the project is still tipping human waste into the sea before being fully treated.
Scottish Water is accused, by islanders, of wasting taxpayers’ money with the state- of-theart sewage system, which was installed in 2008 against the community’s wishes.
A spokeswoman on behalf of islanders said: ‘It is clear that the treatment plant at Balvicar is not working correctly and that there are regular overspills of screened but otherwise untreated sewage into Balvicar Bay.
‘ Year- on-year these are getting worse, in 2014 there were 365 spillages of what we believe is only screened raw sewage.
‘ We have the data for spillages for 2012, 2013 and 2014 and they make disturbing reading. We wonder why action has not been taken against Scottish Water by one of the government agencies.
‘Year-to-year comparisons are difficult because of different reporting methods, but they indicate that there were 243 spillage events in 2012, 20 in 2013 and 365 in 2014.
‘Compare this with Scottish Water Solutions predicted spill frequency of 1.6 per year. Some of the major spillages may be due to membrane failure and others likely result from excess inputs during wet weather.
‘So, by poor design and incompetence, Scottish Water has succeeded in concentrating raw sewage from 160 properties into the most significant shellfish-growing area of Seil Sound at frequent intervals.
‘Remember, this treatment plant was installed to improve the quality of the waters in Seil sound and Balvicar Bay.
‘The reality is that Scottish Water has been polluting Balvicar Bay significantly thereby polluting supposedly highly-protected waters at an iconic beauty spot.’
The spokesperson confirmed that more than 50 per cent of adults on Seil had signed the petition.
A Scottish Water spokesperson said: ‘ We are currently developing a project to meet European Directive requirements for wastewater treatment at Seaview Terrace [on Seil]. At the same time, we are looking at options to address performance issues at the current treatment works at Balvicar, with a focus to ensure we deliver compliant and sustainable wastewater services for customers on the island of Seil.
‘The current works has difficulty passing sufficient flow through the membranes, so while there is a high quality treated effluent, there are increased spills from the network. Scottish Environment Protection Agency has been notified of this, as required, and as a consequence we are developing options for a longer-term strategic solution.
‘ We are relatively early in the process of deciding the most appropriate solution and while some options, such as transferring flows from Balvicar to a new and sufficiently-sized septic tank at Seaview Terrace have been more developed, there remains significant appraisal work to confirm whether this solution would be appropriate.
‘ With respect to the existing infrastructure, the vast majority of the previous investment supported the delivery of the network assets such as sewers and pumping stations. These will be retained in any future solution.
‘As we work through the options we will continue to engage with the local community and stakeholders, including the involvement of the various regulators currently involved.’