An Edinburgh woman has said water companies must do more to ensure raw sewage does not continue to contaminate our shorelines.
Kimberley Travers, 24, from Corstorphine, is a member of Surfers Against Sewage (SAS), who have held a paddle out event today at Portobello beach.
Dozens of protestors showed up with paddle boards, rafts and swim caps to show their support for water companies to stop polluting lakes, beaches, rivers and shores with raw sewage.
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Kimberley says that the UK sewage system is at breaking point and that more must be done to ensure that residents of the capital can enjoy local beaches and rivers without the fear of getting sick.
“As an Edinburgh local this cause is really important to me,” she said.
“Growing up in Edinburgh, going to the beach was a regular activity and now water sports are more popular than ever.
“Findings have found that your mental health is drastically improved by being around and in the sea and other blue spaces.
“The bare minimum we ask for is access to safe water.
“We should have easy access all year round to water monitoring so that we can make safe choices of when to enter the water.
“It should not come down to waiting to find out that we have been swimming or paddling in sewage after we become sick.
“We shouldn’t turn our back on the Scottish coastline, and we should be using it to its full potential.”
SAS have hosted their first ever National paddle-out today (May 20) with 12 protests taking place across the UK at various rivers, lakes and beaches.
A spokesperson for SAS said: “The UK sewage system is at breaking point. It’s under huge strain from a growing population and the increasing frequency of extreme weather events caused by climate change.
“Built on a Victorian system, our decaying sewage infrastructure is in desperate need of investment from water companies.
“They continue to get away with regularly dumping untreated sewage into our blue spaces for millions of hours every year. This needs to stop now.
“We REFUSE to spend another summer swimming in sh*t and we DEMAND that water companies start investing in our future, for the sake of people and the planet.”
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