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POLLUTION SCANDAL: BIG PRICE RISE AS SCOTTISH WATER HIKES UP THE CHARGES

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A warning sign for polluted water, Imperial Beach, California

by Bill Heaney

Scottish Water has announced it is to hike charges by more than eight per cent – costing the average household around £42 per year more than they are paying at the moment.

The board said the changes would take effect from 1st April, resulting in an increase of around £3.50 on monthly bills. The date seems appropriate.

This is the same Scottish Water that has a planning application in to West Dunbartonshire Council for a pipe to discharge sewage into the River Leven at Broadmeadow in Dumbarton.
And whose sewage works at Havoc in Dumbarton pollutes the Clyde shore at the Scottish Rocks.
Volunteers members of the public, Friends of the Clydeshore and the River Leven,  get together on along the banks of the River Leven to clean up the mess at what used to be a pristine, popular summer picnic spot for local people.
Even at lovely Loch Lomond, the water into which people go for wild swimming off the picturesque village of Luss, is polluted (see picture above right).

Dumbarton constituency MSP  Jackie Baillie said “These eye-watering increases will pile pressure on families at a time when bills already feel too high and the SNP government needs to explain why it signed them off.

“These increases are even more difficult to defend when Scottish Water bosses are still being handed huge bonuses.

“From soaring water charges to looming council tax hikes to high income tax rates, Scots are being forced to pick up the bill for SNP failure.

“Scottish Labour will end SNP waste, deliver a fair deal for working people and keep bills as low as possible.”

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton said: “This is a steep rise in bills at a time when many households are already feeling hard pressed.

“What’s more these sharp increases were approved by a water industry regulator which has been hauled through Audit Scotland scrutiny and mired in controversy for misuse of public money.

“In the last couple of months, Scottish Liberal Democrat research has revealed thousands of sewage spills into Scottish shellfish waters and regular breaches of pollution standards in Scotland’s designated bathing waters.

“Combined with the regular reports of big bonuses for senior staff, the spotlight on Scottish Water is huge.

“My party has campaigned for several years on reducing sewage spills, tackling flooding and removing asbestos pipes. Scottish Water need to show that these funds will be used to deliver for taxpayers and households.”

In mitigation, Scottish Water said the average annual charge would come to £532, which it claimed remained among the lowest in the UK.

It said the 8.67 per cent increase was also in line with the limits set by the regulator, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.

But with the local authorities  considering another hike in council tax and rents going up for social housing tenants – another hefty hike is sure to compound challenges for hard-up households.

Scottish Water said the increase would enable it maintain essential services for more than five million people and support investment to upgrade infrastructure.

It claimed the rise was necessary to invest in water pipes and treatment works.

And it warned that Scotland’s water and waste water system was facing increasing pressure including more extreme weather and growing demand.

Recent challenges include Scotland’s driest start to the year in six decades and an increase in repairs as older infrastructure comes to the end of its operational life.

But that is all out the window now that the weather forecast for the weekend and next week is for heavy rain across the West of Scotland.

This will bring with it more more sewage overspills and pollution from Shieldhall in Glasgow to Havoc in Dumbarton, Sandbank in Dunoon, Rothesay, Bute and shores along the banks of the Firth of Clyde.

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