Lothian beach fouled by raw sewage

ONE of the Lothians most popular beaches has been polluted by "very high" levels of raw sewage.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency found a huge increase in faecal coliforms present during its inspection of the bathing waters Milsey Bay in North Berwick.

The town's main beach, which later passed a second examination, is one of eight tourist beaches in Scotland to have failed an inspection so far.

If the beach fails again it will be deemed to have failed for the entire season.

The report said: "The Glen Burn which runs into Milsey Bay was sampled on June 8 and was found to be very high in faecal coliforms.

"Our investigations are continuing into what diffuse pollution sources may have caused this, however recent water sampling shows that this was an isolated occurrence."

Sepa said that recent wet weather had led to increases in levels of pollution, which were worst at Heads of Ayr on the west coast.

Calum McPhail, Sepa's Environment Quality Manager for bathing waters, said: "Scotland experienced a really good start to the bathing water season.

"However, wet weather over recent weeks has been a significant factor affecting the quality of bathing waters at some locations."