Scottish Engineers Work to Stop Millions of Liters of Sewage Flow

Scottish engineers worked around the clock to stop the flow of millions of liters of raw sewage that spilled into the Firth of Forth. The spill was caused by a pump failure at Seafied Wastewater Treatment Plant on Leith last Friday.

According to the BBC News, the public has been warned to avoid contact with the water.

The Seafield plant treats sewage for 800,000 people in and around Edinburgh. The plant is owned and operated by Thames Water under contract to Scottish Water.

The Scottish EPA reported that emergency measures have been put forth to minimize the risk of pollution.

Peter Farrer, the general manager for Scottish Water, told the BBC News that the failure only affected one of the flows going into the treatment works. The rest of Seafield continued to treat the intake as normal. It was impossible to stop the flow because the system was designed to use the emergency overflow into the Forth when a problem occurs.

Gordon Greenhill, the head of community safety at Edinburgh City Council, reported that the spill has raised health concerns, but should not have a long-term affect on the environment.

The spill was eventually halted after temporary pumps were successfully fitted.

Source: BBC News