Scottish Government set to break pledge to update broken sewage guidance

Scottish Liberal Democrat climate, energy and environment spokesperson Sanne Dijkstra-Downie has today revealed emails showing that the SNP Government are set to break its commitment to replace outdated and broken sewage guidance before time consuming legislative reform takes place.

Scottish Liberal Democrats have repeatedly highlighted the lack of consequences for sewage dumping in Scotland - a scandal which has been hindered by broken guidance from the 1990s.

The Scottish Government committed to review this outdated guidance from 1998 before future legislative reform. However, in new emails from June 2026 obtained under FOI the Scottish Government admitted that the Scottish Government and SEPA "are not looking at updating the 1998 guidance".

Environmental Standards Scotland said that what the Scottish Government planned to do instead would not "adequately address recommendation 3 [to update the 1998 guidance] from our report".

The equivalent guidance in England has been used as a part of investigations which resulting in massive fines for English water companies, but the Scottish guidance is broken.

Sanne Dijkstra-Downie said:

"Sewage dumping in Scotland is still governed by these broken 30-year-old sewage rules.

"Yet the Scottish Government seems set to turn its back on its pledge to update these rules urgently, instead kicking it into the long grass. Something which the government's own watchdog described as 'unacceptable'.

"In England, when water companies dump sewage more frequently than the rules allow, they get hit with massive fines. In Scotland, it seems there are never any consequences for sewage dumping under the SNP.

"Scottish Liberal Democrats want to see a Clean Water Act to take the sewage scandal seriously, track down and report every sewage dump, and replace outdated standards with modern enforceable regulation."