Games linked to sewage incident

Nairn is gearing up for this summer's Highland Games

Fat from food poured down drains during a Highland Games weekend has been linked to a pollution incident in the sea off Nairn last August.

Scottish Water was fined £5,000 at Inverness Sheriff Court on Thursday for the discharge of sewage.

The incident was reported to the procurator fiscal by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa).

Scottish Water said Nairn's treatment works was overloaded during the town's games weekend.

Sepa said the company had previously been fined for similar incidents at Nairn in 2004 and last year.

The latest offence happened on 22 and 31 August, 2005.

The Nairn Highland Games is a superb event but its success has in the past meant serious problems for our treatment works Mike Davidson, Scottish Water

Discharges from the treatment works in Nairn are regularly sampled by Sepa and the agency said it was during a routine analysis that higher than regulated levels of treated sewage discharge was detected.

Scottish Water said the works had become overloaded with waste, including large quantities of fat and grease.

The problem, the company said, was linked to Nairn Highland Games.

It was believed hotels, bed and breakfasts, burger vans and takeaway businesses - which were enjoying higher than normal trade - were the cause of fat and grease being poured down drains.

Scottish Water has urged people to dispose of the waste by other, appropriate, means during this weekend's games.

Similar problems with fat and grease have been experienced in Stornoway in the past.

Mike Davidson, Scottish Water treatment co-ordinator, said: "The Nairn Highland Games is a superb event but its success has in the past meant serious problems for our treatment works, which in turn puts the environment at risk.

"Hopefully hotels, bed and breakfasts, burger vans and takeaways will remember that commercial kitchens should have a grease trap in place and ensure that it is properly maintained."