Surfers fear sewage spills are making them sick

A surfing club in Caithness says people have been getting sick due to sewage regularly being spilled into the sea.

The North Shore Surf Club (NSSC), based in Thurso, has had to cancel some children's lessons this year due to health fears.

Caithness is one of the world's top cold water surfing spots but people, including children, have reported getting sickness and diarrhoea symptoms after going into the water.

The Scottish government said Scottish Water had invested heavily in improving and maintaining the sewer system over the past 20 years.

Thurso sewage treatment works, which dates back to 2006, struggles to cope with the effects of heavy rainfall, according to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

It has a Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO), which discharges waste water into Thurso Bay via a long sea outfall during wet weather.

Sepa's advice is to avoid bathing during the first one or two days after heavy rainfall due to the risk to health from water pollution.

The NSSC has called for better monitoring of Far North beaches and for a beacon to be installed at Thurso East to warn people when the water could be dirty.

Phoebe Strachan, from Dunnet, is a Scottish champion surfer and teaches children at the surf club.

She said the problem had been an "ongoing issue for many, many years" and that she and many others had got sick or felt unwell.

Strachan, who is also an ambassador with the campaign group Surfers Against Sewage, said: "Thurso East is a world-renowned surf spot.

"People come from all over the world to surf here because our waves in Caithness are amazing."

She said that during the Scottish Surfing Championships this year there had been sewage overflow and for the entire event the water had been dirty.

"We had quite a few people who were surfing in the competition who became ill afterwards," she said.

"To me that is unacceptable."

Strachan fears children and their parents could be put off surfing and said they wanted more monitoring in order to make an "informed decision" about whether to go into the water.

The issue was highlighted in the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday by Caithness, Sutherland and Ross Liberal Democrat MSP David Green.

He asked what action the Scottish government was taking to reduce sewage spills.

The Cabinet Secretary for Climate Action and Rural Affairs Gillian Martin said that the majority of bathing waters in the Northern Highlands were rated as "excellent" by Sepa.

She said that in the past 20 years Scottish Water had invested £2.7bn in improving and maintaining the sewer system.

However, she said that investment was prioritising investment in water infrastructure - rather than monitoring arbitrary spills.