Sewage pours into Forth as pump breaks again at plant

Published on Monday 17 March 2008 09:35

A BROKEN pump at the Seafield treatment plant has again led to sewage being pumped into the Forth, almost a year after the massive spill at the plant.

It emerged today that a pump broke down at the wastewater treatment plant last week, sparking fears of a repeat among local residents.

The leak last April was also caused by a broken pump and saw 120 million litres of untreated sewage being spilled untreated into the sea.

After the latest breakdown last Wednesday evening excess "mixed sewage" was pumped out through a pipe around two kilometres from the shoreline.

It took about 12 hours for round-the-clock engineers to address the problem and temporary pumps were installed in the meantime.

The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) today said the incident had cause no adverse environmental impact.

However Rob Kirkwood, a spokesman for the Leith Links Residents' Association, who have long campaigned for action on foul smells emanating from the plant, said he was concerned at the latest failure.

He told the Evening News: "This is very worrying. We're concerned that machinery could have broken down again and sewage was being pumped out to sea.

"When we woke up in Leith there was a terrible smell. They're supposed to have a back-up pump in case this happens, but they've had to bring in rental pumps instead."

A SEPA spokesman said the temporary pumps had been brought in while the main pump was being repaired.

He said: "On Wednesday we were aware of a failure of a pump at Seafield at 5.15pm. That resulted in the need to discharge mixed sewage waste through a two km pipe. That would have gone out at a distance of two kilometres. There should be no environmental impact.

"By 6am the next morning the pump was fixed. We are not aware of any ongoing problems."

The issue of obnoxious smells from Seafield plaguing the Leith area has long been an issue for community leaders and politicians.

Even before last April's spill - where bathers had to be banned from the Forth and fisherman counted the financial cost - protestors planned a campaign at Holyrood where they would dress in shackles and Guantanamo Bay-style orange jump suits over what they called a lack of action on the issue.

Last month, a sheriff at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today imposed a 13,500 fine on plant operators Veolia Water Outsourcing Ltd (previously known as Thames Water Services limited) over the spill.

The plant has been upgraded following the incident, but a number of further hiccups have been recorded, and residents say the issue of smell has never really gone away.