Renfrewshire Liberal Democrats have made an appeal to the Scottish Government to record and publish all sewage dumping records.
They want more protection for rivers from sewage so places like Erskine beach are not at risk of getting sewage coming downstream.
It comes as the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency revealed that in 2022 alone there were 244 discharges recorded in Renfrewshire.
It is thought this is a significant underestimate because only 144 of the 3,614 sewage overflows in Scotland’s 31,000-mile sewer network are currently monitored (4%). This is in contrast to England, which has 14,470 overflows of which 12,700 are monitored (89%).
Across Scotland there was a 30% increase in the number of sewage overflow events. In total 14,008 discharges were logged, up from 10,799 incidents in 2021.
Renfrewshire Liberal Democrat spokesperson Grant Toghill said: “This is absolutely disgusting. Every SNP representative should hang their heads in shame. People in Renfrewshire deserve better. Our rivers should be protected and places like Erskine beach should not be at risk of getting sewage from downstream.
“At the moment in England almost every sewage overflow is monitored but in Scotland it’s only a small fraction. That means the true situation is probably far worse. The new Environment Secretary needs to record and publish all sewage discharges so we get a true picture.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats are campaigning for an acceleration of measures to upgrade Scotland’s Victorian sewage systems and prevent almost 19,000 Olympic pools worth of sewage from flowing into our rivers and onto our beaches.”
Headline Photo: Grant Toghill at Erskine Beach
Photo Credit: Renfrewshire Liberal Democrats