- Look now at adjoining Democrat story on sewage crisis
- by BILL HEANEY
Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie MSP has today demanded that the SNP start taking the sewage crisis seriously as new Scottish Water monitoring revealed that sewage discharges last year were four times as high as previously recorded.
This comes after Scottish Water published data from 1,009 newly installed sewage overflow monitors, which means annual monitoring data is now available for 30% of sites, compared to 6% in previous years.
The figures published today by the government-owned water company show that in 2025 alone:
- 100,041 discharges were logged, up from 24,398 incidents in 2024 – a new record
- Sewage was dumped for a total of 276,755 hours in 2025
- That equates to more than 758 hours of sewage dumping a day.
This latest revelation about Scotland’s sewage crisis comes after ‘sewage sleuth’ Peter Hammond, portrayed by Jason Watkins in the Channel 4 TV show Dirty Business, published analysis showing that nearly 90% of sewage dumps in Scotland could be illegal.
Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie said: “It’s horrific to find out that sewage dumping is four times as high as we thought it was last year. This shows the Scottish Liberal Democrats were right to call for expanded monitoring and exposes how naive SNP ministers have been.
“This is the equivalent of 274 dumps taking place every single day.
“Yet even that number is likely an underestimate of the true scale of the problem. Even with these extra monitors, Scotland is still way behind England, where 100% of sewage overflows are monitored.
“To make matters worse, the government-owned water company is paying out bumper bonuses to its executives while sewage is being dumped into our rivers, lochs and beaches more than 100,000 times in 2025.
“We have now heard warnings about the sewage crisis in Scotland from both the government’s own watchdog and ‘sewage sleuth’ Peter Hammond. The Scottish Government needs to start listening to them and taking this crisis seriously.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats have a plan to get to the bottom of this filthy practice. That means a Clean Water Act to take the sewage scandal seriously, track down and report every sewage dump, and replace outdated standards with modern enforceable regulation.”
The Dumbarton Democrat has for years been drawing attention to the amount of sewage that is polluting local lochs, including Loch Lomond, burns and rivers.
We have highlighted the voluntary work being done by the likes of army veteran Tam Towie to keep the Clyde shore and river banks clean from Havoc in Dumbarton to the River Leven at Alexandria, Renton and Balloch — despite Scottish Water’s fat cat bosses choosing to look the other way.
At last Scottish Water are doing something tangible. They are upgrading the wastewater network at Dalreoch in Dumbarton to improve the environment on the River Leven by reducing spills and preventing sewer-related debris from entering the environment.
The work is part of the £500m Improving Urban Waters programme.
They claim to be preventing sewer debris from entering the environment
The high flats area of West Bridgend next to the polluted River Leven and the Artizan Bridge.
The project will reduce spills and prevent sewer-related debris from entering the environment during periods of heavy rain, such as we had at the weekend in West Dunbartonshire.
They are installing new pipework to carry wastewater flows to a new storm overflow chamber which will be fitted with a powered mesh screen preventing anything larger than 6mm from entering the water environment during periods of heavy rainfall.
The new storm overflow is being located under the overflow car park of Dalreoch railway station to allow the car park to remain partially open during construction to minimise impact on rail users.
The new chamber and outfall will replace the existing ones, which are located under the Dennystown Forge Metal Recycling scrapyard. These will be decommissioned.
The new overflow will be installed underneath the car park. The work is part of the Improving Urban Waters programme
A spokesperson said: “The current storm overflow has been identified as a high priority for replacement by Scottish Water and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).
“Under the banner ‘Draining the Rain, Enhancing the Environment ’, the Improving Urban Waters investment will help reduce spills and prevent sewage-related debris such as wet wipes from entering the environment during periods of rainfall.
The main car park at Dalreoch railway station will remain open throughout the project.
Scottish Water claim work is progressing well on site, and they are now moving on to phase 3 of their programme, which involves installing a new section of sewer pipeline beside Glasgow Road (Cardross Road and the Artizan Bridge).
To allow them to carry out this work safely, a lane closure will be in place on the eastbound carriageway of Glasgow Road, including the Artizan Bridge, at its junction with Cardross Road between Renton Road and the entrance to the Dalreoch Station car park.
Five-way temporary traffic lights will also be in place on Glasgow Road, West Bridgend, Renton Road and the access road to the train station car park. These will be manned between 7am-7 pm, seven days a week, to help with the flow of traffic, about which residents of Dumbarton’s West End have been complaining long and hard for many months.
Scottish Water claim have worked hard to reduce the duration of this phase of their work to bring the programme forward.
Traffic management is now expected to be removed on Monday 7 December, ahead of the Christmas period, helping to minimise disruption for residents and road users.
The main car park at Dalreoch Station will remain open throughout the works; however, the lower car park will remain closed. Advance signage is already in place in the area.
“We would like to thank the local community for their patience and understanding while we complete this essential investment,” the Scottish Water spokesperson said.