Two-mile clear up at Newburgh beach after Ellon sewage works spill

By Donna MacAllister

November 26 2022, 6:00 am

Sewage and plastic piece spilled from Ellon treatment works late on Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday morning. Image: Turning the Plastic Tide.

A near two-mile clean up of Newburgh Beach on both sides of the Ythan Estuary in Aberdeenshire is drawing to a close after a sewage spill.

A crew of 20 involving Scottish Water and four contractors used quad bikes and a tractor to pick up chunks of sand that were contaminated with bits of plastic and sewage.

Vast numbers of small plastic filters used in the sewage treatment process near Ellon spilled into the environment on Monday night and into the early hours of Tuesday morning after flooding.

Plastic pollution on Newburgh shorelines

The public are being asked not to go near the feather-light filters amid fears they could be hazardous to health. Image: Turning the Plastic Tide.

Concerns were raised by Turning the Plastic Tide after they found thousands of small plastic pieces littering Newburgh beach.

They are feather-light and small fuelling fears it will take a long time to clear them out of the environment.

Scottish Water said the spill was “small relative to the total capacity of the tanks”‘

It said it would have consisted of partially-treated effluent mixed with floodwater from the river.

It added: “The main environmental issue is the release of the plastic filters and our focus is on cleaning up and identifying how we can address the risk of this happening if similar circumstances were to occur in the future.

“Despite the containment arrangements already built into the site to protect the environment, this incident reflects a risk in severe flood events.”