Scottish Water threatens firms that dump cooking fat with £40k fine

Scottish Water is warning it will impose fines of up to 40,000 to help pay the clean-up costs associated with clearing cooking fat from sewers, which have soared to more than 2 million a year.

Takeaway fish and chip shops, along with restaurants and hotels, are being blamed for dumping cooking fat down the drain - blocking them and causing them to leak sewage.

The company has now compiled a list of the top 10 offending communities, cities and towns to highlight the costly clean-up operations it is forced to mount to stop sewers overflowing.

Among the fat blockage hotspots are tourist centres such as St Andrews, Edinburgh, Bunessan on the Isle of Mull, Stornoway, Thurso and Grantown on Spey.

Water experts fear the problem could increase as a result of climate change, with heavier rainfall leading to flash flood from overloaded sewage systems.

Last month, an investigation was launched after cooking fat polluted a burn running through Arnhall Park, a nature reserve near Aberdeen.

The fat was traced to the nearby Westhill Shopping Centre, which contains a number of fast food outlets.

In many countries commercial properties are legally obliged to fit a trap to catch grease but such legislation has yet to be introduced in Scotland.

Scottish Water, the state-owned company that provides water and sewerage services in Scotland, is now warning that businesses face a fine of 40,000 to cover the clean-up costs if grease traps are not installed.

Section 48 of the Sewerage (Scotland) Act 1968 makes it an offence to discharge material into a sewer which is liable to interfere with the free flow of the contents of the sewer.

However, Scottish Water says many food outlets ignore the law and continue to dispose of cooking fat down the drain, causing a 2.1m bill last year - a cost that is passed on to consumers through their water bills.

"The impact is not just on locals but on the tourist industry as well," said Alex Milligan, Scottish Water trade effluent adviser.

"You can imagine what it must be like, visiting a town or a village and the first thing you see is sewage running down the road. It doesn't exactly enhance the tourist experience."

The move by Scottish Water is part of a UK initiative to clamp down on offenders. In April a food company in Lincolnshire was landed with a 7,419 court bill, after it admitted discharging fats, oils and grease into a public sewer in a case brought by Severn Trent.

One chef said restaurants that drained fat down the sink were being "incredibly irresponsible".

Roy Brett, head chef at Edinburgh seafood restaurant Ondine, said: "At the end of the day if you pour fat down the drain it's going to block your drains - you're the ones who are going to suffer."