This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter.

Just under two weeks ago, in the midst of warnings not to swim at Portobello beach due to bacterial contamination, I went, instead, to Wardie, another Edinburgh swim spot.

There had been no alert there, and the latest water quality monitoring suggested all was good. But the evidence of sewage was still easily to be found, floating amongst the jellyfish in the water – a stray sanitary towel.

It wasn’t an unusual sight. Often when the ‘sewage scandal’ appears in headlines, the word ‘shocking’ is used, but really for any regular to coastlines in highly populated areas, the sewage waste is no shock. It’s just a depressing fact of life.

The Portobello alert was also a reminder of how sewage pollution can impact on businesses and tourism. A friend who runs group swim therapy sessions said she had been forced recently to cancel two events. The mobile Soul Water Sauna, which is used by swimmers alternating between dipping in the sea, and sweating inside the box, also was forced to cancel sessions due to the contamination.

But this brief ban is not the only reason for alarm. A local group, Porty Water Collective, that tests water quality where the Figgate burn spills into the sea, and children are frequently to be found paddling, regularly finds readings at the spot that are a cause for concern. 81% of the tests they took between July 2023 and April 2024 would have been classed as ‘poor’ according to SEPA safe water standards.

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Sewage, barely away from the headlines for long, has been back in the news........

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