'Disgusting' sewage dumps into Scotland's rivers increase - with 21,660 found last year

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Sewage spills hit a record high last year with a “disgusting” 21,660 sewage dumps into Scotland’s waterways - or 59 per day - new stats reveal.Filthy wastewater spewed into Scottish rivers and seas for a staggering 221,002 hours in 2023, Scottish Water data shows - an average of more than 600 hours a day.Incidents of sewers overflowing into water bodies were up 10 per cent on 2022’s figure of 19,676.It comes as Scottish Water also admitted yesterday there were more than 5600 extra sewage dumps in 2022 on top of the 14,000 previously reported.Raw sewage is only meant to be released into the environment during extreme rain so the sewer network can cope - but sewage dumping rates have been climbing for years.It’s become an issue of huge controversy south of the border, where the privatised water network has overseen rocketing rates of raw sewage pouring into English waterways.But we told last year of ex-Undertones rocker Feargal Sharkey’s warning - now a campaigner for healthy rivers - that the situation is just as bad in some parts of Scotland like the central belt, despite our publicly-owned water company.Scottish Water has repeatedly come under fire for only monitoring a fraction of Scotland’s sewer overflow pipes - compared to England, which tracks nearly all of theirs.It comes after the firm announced Scots will be slapped with higher water bills from April, with charges up by 8.8 per cent.The Liberal Democrats say Scotland’s “Victorian” sewer network badly needs upgraded and overflow monitoring ramped up.Scottish Lib Dem leader Alex Cole-Hamilton hit out: “It is disgusting to learn sewage is being dumped into our waterways 59 times a day.“Even that figure is likely to be a significant underestimate because only a