Scottish Environment Minister Sarah Boyack has announced what she described as "substantial" increases in charges for water over the next two years.

The biggest increases are in the north of Scotland where there will be a 35% price rise this year and 12% next year.

Prices In the west of Scotland and east will rise by 15% and then 12%.

The minister said the charges in the north of Scotland reflected the higher costs of providing water services in remote areas.

She said the increase for the average customer represented 60 pence per week.

The increases come in the wake of recommendations by Scotland's new water industry commissioner, Alan Sutherland, who said greater revenue was needed to finance improvements to Scotland's water supply system.

European regulations make the improvement in standards a priority which requires immediate funding.

Environmental concerns

Ms Boyack said the move was in the interests of public health.

She told the Scottish Parliament: "Water treatment standards must be improved. Equally the desire to look after our environment is not compatible with pumping untreated sewage into rivers and coastal areas.

"The basic infrastructure we depend upon was put in place in the Victorian era and decades of under-investment mean that much of it needs to be replaced soon.

"The water commissioner's review demonstrates clearly that consumers are not best served by keeping prices artificially low if this action means growing risks to public health and breaks in the water supply.

"However I do not feel that increases of the size proposed can be introduced next year. Whilst I accept that more investment is needed, it is my view that the increases necessary to deliver this should be based on the completion of a full assessment of the authorities' infrastructure and their ability to deliver value for money investment."

She added that current assistance for less well-off households would remain, with many paying only two thirds of the average charge.

But the increases were met with accusations of mismanagement from opposition MSPs.

The Scottish Conservatives' environment spokesman, Murray Tosh, described the rise in prices for the north of Scotland as an "absolute outrage", laying the blame at the door of the Scottish Executive.

He said: "The Scottish Executive has starved water authorities of resources by setting their external finance limits at a totally inadequate level, and crucial investment in the industry's infrastructure is now having to be met from direct charges to the consumer."

He added that public-private partnerships were the answer, allowing greater access to capital for the funding of the necessary improvements.

The Scottish National Party said that some consumers will have seen their water bills rise by 300% since Labour came to power.