700 sewer spills in Seil Sounds in ‘22
Seil Sound was polluted by 700 sewer spills last year, according to new figures from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency
The issue is on the community council’s agenda, says Seil and Easdale convener Zim Knight.
“We are very concerned by the figures and we continue to search for a solution,” he said.
Seil Sound suffers when heavy rain overwhelms the nearby sewage system but there are also properties at Clachan on the island, SeaView towards Ellenabeich and on neighbouring Easdale island that have sewage pipes discharging straight into the sea.
There were 14 locations across Argyll and Bute where Scottish Water recorded spills in 2022, from Campbeltown to Helensburgh and Tarbert Pier.
Only Tighnabruaich topped Balvicar with 769 spillages recorded in that year.
Solving Seil’s water treatment problems has history.
In November 2020, Scottish Water announced it wanted to defer its planning bid to deliver the new multi-million pound waste water treatment works, blaming the decision on “a significant increase in the final detailed cost estimates to deliver the proposed new works”.
It then decided not to move from its current site close to the bay and to trial an ultra-violet treatment instead.
Talks had gone so far in the community to suggest Scottish Water needed to give something back to the community to make up for years of uncertainty and waste water issues – including sewage being discharged into the bay – but nothing ever came of it.
Across Scotland there was a 30 per cent increase in the number of sewer spills, according to SEPA’s statistics. In total 14,008 discharges were logged, up from 10,799 incidents in 2021. The total volume of sewage overflows recorded was 47.1 million cubic meters, up from 34.9 million cubic metres in 2021. That is the equivalent of 18,845 Olympic swimming pools.
In the Highlands, Liberal Democrats are demanding that the Scottish Government record and publish all sewage dumping and take action to relieve the pressure on Scotland’s Victorian sewer system.
A Scottish Water spokesperson said: “We have a plan under way for upgrades to our waste water infrastructure on the Isle of Seil and we are engaging with the local community on those plans.
“It’s not true to call spills from the waste water network sewage spills. The toilet sewage element of the water that spills is less than one per cent of the total volume. What is spilled is largely rain water. But the overflows that spill are needed so that water doesn’t back up into homes and communities.”
The spokesperson also said: “People and communities have a huge part to play and that’s why our Nature Calls campaign, which we launched last year, is encouraging people to never flush wipes or other unflushable items down the loo. We also called on the Scottish Government to ban wipes that contain plastic as they take decades to break down and cause thousands of sewer blockages each year and we are delighted that the Government has announced it is to bring forward legislation to do this.”
According to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) Scottish Water assets have not been identified as an issue causing environmental impact on any water-dependent protected area.