Fife Council has today passed a Liberal Democrat motion, brought forward by Deputy Leader Cllr James Calder, to tackle sewage overflows, specifically those have taken place across in Fife.

Sewage overflows have taken place in Cupar, St Andrews Harbour and Ironmill Bay, with the total number of instances across Fife in 2022 totalling 193. At the moment, Scottish Water currently monitors just 4% of overflows, so the true number of incidents may be much higher.

Scottish Liberal Democrats are now calling on the Scottish Government to:

• Introduce the first legally-binding targets for reducing sewage dumps
• Speed up protection of bathing waters
• Ban dumping on Scotland’s best beaches
• Record and publish every sewage dump
• Upgrade Victorian sewage network and improve infrastructure

Speaking after the motion was passed, Councillor Calder said:

Sewage dumping is a problem that nobody wants on their doorstep, yet it takes place in Fife.

Not only that, but due to the poor monitoring in Scotland compared to England, we don’t even know how much is happening.

I have a two-year-old daughter and I want her to be able to enjoy our rivers and coastal areas, but right now I am worried.

It’s concerning not only from a public health perspective, but also in terms of the environmental damage, which we have already seen in the River Eden.

Liberal Democrats are calling on both Scottish Water and the Scottish Government to start by properly monitoring and then later ending sewage dumping with improved by infrastructure.

I am pleased other councillors agree with me and I hope we can continue to press the government to tackle this sewage menace.

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