Sewage scandal could be ‘huge under-estimate’ as new figures show torrent of filth flowing into waterways
New figures snuck out by Scottish Water a week before the General Election show there were 3,449 more sewage dumps in 2023 than previously disclosed
By Bill Heaney
Highly paid officials at Scotland’s taxpayer-owned water company – and many other public service organisations too, including local councils such as West Dunbartonshire – have been taking the public for mugs for many years by accepting and even publicising woeful failings in the services which they have been put in charge of running — but doing little or nothing to improve them.
Meanwhile, as complaints about everything from the quality of drinking water to the dumping of raw sewage in beauty spots such as Loch Lomond and tourist areas in the Firth of Clyde, the only things they are improving exponentially have been their own salaries and perks.
Don’t believe the line that council officials’ salaries are kept high to compete with the private sector. Local government is the place to to be if you want a cushy number and a large salary.
Public services are exceptionally good at expensive spin doctoring, being economical with truth and sleekit cover-ups such as the one last weekend when the water board sneaked out a set of figures which show that sewage dumping in 2023 was higher than previously known.
On June 26, just over a week before the General Election, Scottish Water updated its website to show there were 25,109 sewage dumps in the country’s waterways last year. This was a 15.9% increase from the 21,660 originally reported in March and more than double the number recorded in 2020.
However, the Scottish Liberal Democrats who in fairness have been on the ball in relation to the sewage scandal said the figures could still be a “huge underestimate” of the scale of the problem and called for the SNP to back their plans for a Clean Water Act to update the sewage network and ensure that every outflow is monitored.
Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “The scandal of sewage dumping in our rivers, lochs and beaches seems to be ever growing in Scotland. Just recently we had Portobello beach shut due to fears around E.Coli and now Scottish Water tell us there were actually more sewage dumps than previously known about last year.
“These figures also leave the environmental credentials of the Scottish Greens in tatters as this record-breaking year of sewage in 2023 dumping occurred on their watch as government ministers.
He added that £2.7 billion had been spent on improving the sewage system over the past decade, with a further £500 million to follow, including 1,000 new overflow monitors by the end of 2024.The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.”
But the long-suffering public don’t want monitors – they want solutions and action to minimise these discharges. They are fed up hearing the same old excuses for this.
So here is some detail on this. While hard-working Scots families struggle with a 8.8% rise in water charges, bosses at Scottish Government-owned Scottish Water enjoyed above inflation pay rises and over £6 million in bonuses.
The SNP Government-owned Scottish Water has been blasted after it was revealed executives enjoyed increased bonuses and pay before hiking up water charges.
Criticism poured in after it was revealed there would be ing a huge above inflation 8.8% increase in water bills for households.
Humza Yousaf came under fire after he refused to admit at FMQs that the “eye-watering” rise was about to be added to council tax bills in December, with reports suggesting it could rise by 29% over the next three years. It was confirmed that bills would increase by around £35.95 from April for the year 2024/25.
Alex Plant, who was appointed as chief executive on June 1, is netting between £290k to £295k a year, a big £20k rise from the year before, an almost 7% increase while this week local government bin workers were offered 3.2 per cent, which is not even half of that.
And, of course, they earn not even one tenth of Alex Plant’s £300,000 a year salary and no perks or bonuses.
The director of finance gained a £5k pay rise, Director of Environment, Planning & Assurance got £10k and the director for people also got £5k.
What the director for people is doing for that kind of money, the public would like to know.
Scottish Labour deputy leader Dame Jackie Baillie told journalists: “It is outrageous that Scottish Water bosses are being handed eye-watering bonuses while struggling Scots are facing soaring charges. The SNP should never have nodded through this drastic bill hike and it adds insult to injury that the money is going into executives’ pockets instead of essential infrastructure.”
“Incentive plans are driven by out-performance of clear business targets, verified by our independent regulators. This reflects the need for Scottish Water to operate on a commercial basis within the public sector and in recognition of this, the Scottish Government has given us flexibility to reward all employees as performance merits it. Scottish Water continues to outperform and meet ministerial objectives.”
Not in West Dunbartonshire it doesn’t where raw sewage is dumped in the River Clyde, the River Leven and Loch Lomond, where people take risks of e-coli infections by swimming or even just paddling in the water …
However, it looks as though some thing is happening in Dumbarton. Scottish Water has announced that to allow for sewer network investigations, a short section of the national cycle route 7 in #Dumbarton will be closed from Monday 29th July for approximately four weeks.
A signed diversion route will be in place from Dunglass to Dumbuck alongside the A82 at Milton, Dumbarton.