Charity Surfers Against Sewage are behind the initiative.
An environmental charity has launched Scotland’s first ever sewage alerts app.
Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) has made its Safer Seas & Rivers Service (SSRS) app available north of the border for the first time.
This is the only service of its kind in Scotland – giving surfers, swimmers, paddleboarders and wild dippers real-time warnings when sewage spews into your favourite waters.
Scotland-specific alerts trigger when a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) discharges within 2km of a designated bathing water.
This means 48 Scottish locations will now receive year-round, real-time alerts.
The charity say it is not a perfect system but it’s the best possible solution given the data that’s available.
Annie, a senior data officer at Surfers Against Sewage, said: “For too long, surfers and swimmers in Scotland have been kept in the dark. Scotland’s waters are not as clean as people think, and people are getting sick. In the face of inaction from Scottish Water and the government, the public deserves at least some form of protection.”
Shelley is a wild swimmer in Dunbar, who was hospitalised with Cryptosporidium after a dip at her local beach.
She said: “At my local beaches in Dunbar, the only way we are properly aware of what is going on is because of the citizen science project, where water quality is tested by locals. We’re grateful for that, but what we really need to see all over Scotland is officially whether the water is safe or not.
“We want to know the real data so that we know what danger we are putting ourselves in, all year round, not just in the bathing season. We find with our own little swimming group that more people are swimming through the winter than in the summer, and swimming as much as possible through the colder months. We need to know the data, so that we know whether or not it is safe to swim.”
A spokesperson for Scottish Water told STV: “We are monitoring more overflows than ever before, providing more information on overflows than ever before and investing more than ever before in our waste water network.
“Scotland’s water quality is at its highest ever and we remain committed to targeting resources and investment to preserve and protect Scotland’s water environment.”
