More than half of wild swimming spots in Scotland contain unsafe levels of sewage

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Figures have revealed that more than half of wild swimming spots in Scotland contain unsafe levels of sewage.The Scottish Liberal Democrats have condemned "filthy practices" after analysis by The Ferret discovered 50 of 89 bathing waters in Scotland breached European safety limits for faecal bacterial at least once when tested since May.Levels were found to be at least 50 times the safe limit on three occasions at Lower Largo beach in Fife which had the highest levels.Freshwater bathing spots at Luss Bay, on the banks of Loch Lomond, and Dores beach, near Loch Ness, also returned very high levels.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has accused Scottish Government ministers of letting Scottish Water "off the hook".The contamination is typically caused by heavy rain which leads to sewers to overflow or washes animal faeces from farms into the waters.

The investigation of the 89 water spots was undertaken by Sepa between five and 18 occasions between May and September 15.The sampling checks waters for concentrations of E.coli and intestinal enterococci (IE) which are found in faeces.

It covered designated spots, where the areas are considered to have more than 150 visitors.Scottish Water have said not all cases of contamination are linked with discharges from sewers and said it assess levels regularly.Mr Cole-Hamilton said: "This shows the SNP and Greens are letting the Government-owned water company off the hook for dumping sewage into our rivers, lakes and beaches.