Red card warning for sea bathing

Rosemarkie beach on the Moray Firth got a "good" rating

Heavy rainfall has resulted in reduced bathing water quality at a number of Scotland's beaches, a report has said.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency said seven sites had been served with a red card after samples exceeded EU standards for water quality.

Heavy rainfall causes drainage overflows, resulting in polluted water washing into the sea.

Sepa analysed samples from 80 sites. It said 39 were excellent, 34 were of good quality and seven were poor.

The sites classed as poor were Sandyhills (Dumfries and Galloway), Saltcoats/Ardrossan (Ayrshire), Ettrick Bay (Bute), Portobello (Edinburgh), Aberdeen, Cruden Bay (Aberdeenshire) and Rosehearty (Aberdeenshire).

Despite the poor weather, with an increase in the number of sites monitored, the figures show an improvement in overall performance from last year.

Horrific weather

Environment Minister Michael Russell said he was "disappointed" some bathing waters had not met the required European standard.

He said: "Unfortunately, for the second summer in a row, Scotland has been cursed with some horrific weather, not least heavy rain across the country.

"The bad weather has had a deeply detrimental effect on the quality of our bathing water results which is very unfortunate.

"I am however pleased to see that the 20 new bathing waters I designated earlier this year have come up to scratch which reflects well on those responsible for their upkeep."

Sepa said heavy rainfall could not be blamed for all the results.

We should recognise that nearly half of the bathing waters still managed to achieve the highest guideline standard Calum McPhail Sepa

Some of the poor samples were caused by agricultural pollution, while some were caused by sewage.

Sepa bathing water expert Calum McPhail said: "The weather has been mostly responsible for short pollution events, which resulted in poor samples or 'yellow card' scenarios.

"However, we should recognise that nearly half of the bathing waters still managed to achieve the highest guideline standard, despite the episodes of wet weather this summer."

Sepa said Scotland had its ninth wettest June - August period in 140 years.

The environment body said Strathkinness near St Andrews in Fife recorded 208mm of rainfall for August, more than three times the long-term average.

The gauging station at Kemback on the River Eden in Fife recorded a mean flow for August which was more than five times the August average.

Eyemouth on the Eye Water recorded a mean flow for August equivalent to almost seven times the long-term average for August.