from Sunday Herald, 19 August 2001
EVEN when all the Victorian sewage works are replaced, some of Scotland's most popular bathing waters will still fail the basic safety limits because of animal waste washed into the sea from farms.
Agricultural run-off is now seen as the biggest barrier to cleaning up beaches in the future. According to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), contamination from farms could be the main cause of river pollution by 2010.
"Diffuse agricultural pollution has increased over the last 50 years as farming methods have intensified. It poses a serious long-term threat to the water quality of rivers, lochs, groundwaters and estuaries," said SEPA's Stewart Prodger.
The problem has been graphically illustrated at Ayr, where the Scottish environment and rural development minister, Ross Finnie, opened a new sewage pumping station at the beginning of July. Since then, the town's South Beach has become one of the first to fail the mandatory sewage standards for the current bathing season, probably due to agricultural run-off.
The beach is also rated the fourth dirtiest in Scotland in the latest Sunday Herald/Friends of the Earth Scotland 'top of the plops' league table (below).
Four other bathing waters have also now failed for the season: Millport on the island of Cumbrae, South Beach at Saltcoats/Ardrossan, Ettrick Bay on Bute and Fraserburgh on the north-east coast.
SCOTLAND DIRTIEST AND CLEANEST BEACHESDirtiest five beaches
Ettrick Bay, Isle of Bute
South Beach, Saltcoats/Ardrossan
Gailes Beach, Irvine
South Beach, Ayr
Fraserburgh BeachCleanest five beaches
Philorth, Fraserburgh
Caravan Park, Dornoch
Gullane, East Lothian
Silversands, Aberdour
Roome Bay, Crail
