Meeting of the Parliament 26 October 2022
I thank Alex Cole-Hamilton for securing this crucial debate. As we have heard already, The Ferret has identified that the untreated human waste flowing into Scotland’s seas and rivers is a huge problem, especially given that more and more people who live in Scotland and who visit Scotland want to get closer to nature and get into the water.
In my region, the Highlands and Islands, we are lucky to have some areas with pristine water, including four bathing-water sites where pollution was “undetectable” or “very low” last year. That is so important to our local economy, as many coastal communities depend on tourists who want to enjoy beautiful clear seas, lochs and rivers, and the wildlife that they support.
However, we also have some of the most polluted areas: Ettrick Bay in the Isle of Bute, which has already been mentioned, and two beaches in Nairn are all in the top 25 most polluted bathing waters.
Even if we get what Alex Cole-Hamilton has called for—reduced discharges, sewage monitoring and reporting, and upgraded sewage systems—that will not solve the problems with Scotland’s waters. It is not just human waste that pollutes our seas, lochs and rivers. Environmental Standards Scotland found that pollution from agricultural activities, including spreading of slurry on fields, affected the highest number of water bodies in Scotland. According to the National Trust for Scotland, just one moderate-sized salmon farm discharges the same amount of sewage as a town twice the size of Oban does.
A recently approved salmon farm off Papa Westray in Orkney has the potential to produce effluent equivalent to the amount that would be produced by 49,500 people. Waste is already released from five other salmon farms nearby; needless to say, locals do not want to swim there.
In Argyll and Bute, locals face a similar problem. My constituent who runs a holiday business there depends on people wanting to swim in the nearby bay. He and wild swimmers, divers and other local water users are concerned that the pesticides and waste from a proposed salmon farm a short distance away will contaminate the bay.
Although SEPA monitors levels of faecal bacteria in bathing waters, it does not issue guidance on safe levels of pesticides, such as hydrogen peroxide, in other water bodies. People who regularly dip in those waters might be at risk, as is indicated in a toxicology report by the independent consultants WCA Environment Ltd.
It is not just recreational users of the water who are affected. Too much effluent from sewage or fish farms anywhere can damage nursery grounds and can be harmful to species including scallops, shellfish, lobsters and crabs—key commercial species on which sustainable creel fishers and divers depend. Waste, wherever it comes from, is undermining livelihoods, as well as undermining the local food supply that our seas naturally produce.
Just as Alex Cole-Hamilton has called for enhanced monitoring and reporting of sewage discharges, we also need much closer monitoring, inspection, reporting and enforcement of aquaculture. SEPA and Marine Scotland must be fully resourced and empowered to carry out those duties in order to preserve the health of our waters for all of us to enjoy.
A report by Just Economics found that fish farm waste that is discharged into the marine environment carries a cost of almost £37 million per year. Untreated human waste will also carry a heavy cost. If we are serious about tackling the climate and nature emergencies, we need to seriously improve how we deal with waste from humans, fish farms and agriculture.
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