{"id":111341,"date":"2025-09-03T11:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/111341\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T11:10:12","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T11:10:12","slug":"tighnabruaich-residents-demand-action-over-sewage-and-e-coli-risks-polluting-sea-at-kyles-of-bute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/111341\/","title":{"rendered":"Tighnabruaich residents demand action over sewage and E. coli risks polluting sea at Kyles of Bute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Campaigners in a village on the Cowal Peninsula claim sewage is polluting the seas around the Kyles of Bute and are demanding urgent action to protect public health, the environment and the local economy.<\/p>\n

Residents staged a \u201cdip if you dare\u201d protest in Tighnabruaich, warning of the risks of E. coli and norovirus.<\/p>\n

Some took the plunge to highlight their concerns, while others took to kayaks or backed the campaign from the safety of dry land.<\/p>\n

One regular swimmer said: \u201cIt\u2019s not pleasant to see something floating past. I swim in the sea regularly, but not in areas where there are sewage pipes going into the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/STV News<\/p>\n

Another youngster added: \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to swim in the sea when there\u2019s loads of jobbies about \u2013 I mean, would you like that?\u201d<\/p>\n

In a letter to campaigners, the Scottish Government said Scotland\u2019s waters are among the cleanest in Europe.<\/p>\n

But locals remain concerned about the impact of sewage on recreation, tourism and livelihoods.<\/p>\n

\"AmieSTV NewsAmie Dow from the Kyles Coastal Community. STV News<\/p>\n

Amie Dow from the Kyles Coastal Community said: \u201cWe live in a spectacular area and we are being let down. Gillian Martin has told us there\u2019s nothing wrong with the water quality, but the evidence we see strongly suggests otherwise. This is our sea \u2013 would you swim in it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Siobhan Stewart, a local primary school teacher, added: \u201cThe whole point of the campaign is \u2018do you dare to go in the water here? We don\u2019t want that reputation for Tighnabruaich.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want people to feel safe to swim here because our local economy is reliant on sea-based recreation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SiobhanSTV NewsSiobhan Stewart. STV News<\/p>\n

Researchers at the University of Glasgow are working on affordable ways to help small towns like Tighnabruaich manage wastewater.<\/p>\n

Professor Bill Sloan said: \u201cWe want to invent new technologies that make it attractive to treat wastewater in a better way. The challenge is getting Scottish Water and SEPA to work with communities and to fund sustainable solutions in rural areas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scottish Water said they\u2019ve invested more than \u00a3250m in wastewater projects in Argyll and Bute since 2002, but stressed their funding is limited to the public network and does not cover private sewerage systems.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/STV News<\/p>\n

SEPA said water quality in Scotland is at its highest-ever level but pledged to continue working on local issues linked to private systems.<\/p>\n

A SEPA spokesperson said: \u201cEnvironmental water quality in Scotland is currently at its highest level ever, with more than 87% of our water environment achieving good or high classification for water quality. Our aspiration, as set out in the current River Basin Management Plan (RBMP), is for 92% of water bodies to reach good or better status for water quality by 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are several causes of water quality issues in Scotland. These include sewer overflows, diffuse pollution (surface water run-off from land and urban areas) and private sewerage systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cSEPA continues to work with both private householders and businesses to improve private sewage treatments. Wherever feasible, the preferred option is to connect to a Scottish Water network, where one exists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognise the time and effort invested by the Kyles Coastal Community group to improve the environment for the community and look forward to continuing to engage with them and other stakeholders.\u201d<\/p>\n

Climate action secretary Gillian Martin said: \u201c87% of Scotland\u2019s entire water environment already has a \u2018high\u2019 or \u2018good\u2019 classification for water quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the Scottish Government takes the issue of pollution incidents very seriously. That is why Scottish Water is committing up to \u00a3500m to further improve water quality, increase monitoring of the highest priority waters and tackle debris and spills.<\/p>\n

\u201cSEPA regulates private sewage discharges to ensure the water environment is protected from the impacts of pollution. The Scottish Government is reviewing its policies to consider how it should align with the EU\u2019s recast Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive, which includes requirements in relation to private wastewater treatment systems such as septic tanks.\u201d<\/p>\n

STV News is now on WhatsApp<\/p>\n

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\"WhatsApp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Campaigners in a village on the Cowal Peninsula claim sewage is polluting the seas around the Kyles of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[1397,90,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-111341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-environment","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}