Sewage dump fears mean 3 in 4 Scots less likely to wild swim, new poll finds
dailyrecord.co.ukNearly three quarters of Scots are less likely to wild swim in the country’s waterways because of concern over sewage leaks, a poll shows.The Savanta survey for the Liberal Democrats found 73 per cent of people who say they swim often in rivers, lakes and seas are less likely to do so now due to waste pollution.
That figure rose to 77 per cent for the UK as a whole.It comes amid growing anger on both sides of the border over sewage flowing into the environment, including into protected sites and designated bathing waters.
However, Scotland’s environment watchdog this week claimed Scots had more ‘excellent’ rated bathing waters to enjoy this summer than ever before.The poll by Savanta, which spoke to 2275 Brits between March 31 and April 3, found around a fifth of Scots who say they often or sometimes wild swim.
We previously told how wastewater was pumped into Scotland’s rivers a record-breaking 14,000 times in 2022 - a rate of nearly 40 incidents per day.It’s only supposed to happen in storm conditions.But the scale of the problem could be far worse than reported, as only 4 per cent of sewer overflows are monitored in Scotland, compared to around nine in ten in England.
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