New record for sewage: Over 100,000 “disgusting” sewage dumps in 2025

Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie has today demanded that the SNP start taking the sewage crisis seriously as new Scottish Water monitoring revealed that sewage discharges last year were four times as high as previously recorded.

This comes after Scottish Water published data from 1,009 newly installed sewage overflow monitors, which means annual monitoring data is now available for 30% of sites, compared to 6% in previous years.

The figures published today by the government-owned water company show that in 2025 alone:

• 100,041 discharges were logged, up from 24,398 incidents in 2024 - a new record
• Sewage was dumped for a total of 276,755 hours in 2025
• That equates to more than 758 hours of sewage dumping a day.

This latest revelation about Scotland's sewage crisis comes after 'sewage sleuth' Peter Hammond, portrayed by Jason Watkins in the Channel 4 TV show Dirty Business, published analysis showing that nearly 90% of sewage dumps in Scotland could be illegal.

Scottish Liberal Democrat environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie said:

"It's horrific to find out that sewage dumping is four times as high as we thought it was last year. This shows the Scottish Liberal Democrats were right to call for expanded monitoring and exposes how naive SNP ministers have been.

“This is the equivalent of 274 dumps taking place every single day.

“Yet even that number is likely an underestimate of the true scale of the problem. Even with these extra monitors Scotland is still way behind England where 100% of sewage overflows are monitored.

"To make matters worse, the government owned water company is paying out bumper bonuses to its executives while sewage is being dumped into our rivers, lochs and beaches more than 100,000 times in 2025.

“We have now heard warnings about the sewage crisis in Scotland from both the government's own watchdog and 'sewage sleuth' Peter Hammond. The Scottish Government needs to start listening to them and taking this crisis seriously.

“Scottish Liberal Democrats have a plan to get to the bottom of this filthy practice. That means a Clean Water Act to take the sewage scandal seriously, track down and report every sewage dump, and replace outdated standards with modern enforceable regulation."