Overflows: ‘There is raw sewage going into the river’

The number of sewage spills into Scotland’s seas and rivers is on the rise, with a 40% increase recorded over the last five years.

Data from Scottish Water shows the equivalent of 47,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools worth of waste has been discharged since 2016.

Campaigners at the River Almond in West Lothian and at Aberlady Bay near Edinburgh are calling for more action to tackle the issue.

Scottish Water says it invests heavily in the country’s waste water network, but warned problems would not be solved "by building bigger and bigger sewers”.

Video by Andrew Picken & Marc Ellison

Filmed by Zoe MacDonald

2 August 2021