SOS Leith

Photo of out booth at the market. A map if the shore with CSOs marked on the left. Our CLEAN UP SCOTLAND’S SEWAGE campaign materials on the right in blue and white colouring.

I’m at the Leith Market with @sosleith.bsky.social, @riveralmondaction.bsky.social, and @ercscot.bsky.social - we’re launching our campaign to Clean Up Scotland’s Sewage!

Stop in by to see us, or please please do sign our petition and share! Thank you! 🙌

www.ercs.scot/clean-up-sco...

Scottish Water map of The Shore, showing one of the CSOs had an overflow event in the wee hours of this morning already.

Lots of rain forecast for today, and looks like it’s barely begun overnight.

Let’s see how our local CSOs are doing - and get prepped to look when the rains really start hitting! www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Yo...

Oh.

Map from the Scottish Water overflow site, showing two recent overflows have been recorded in the past 48 hours along the Water of Leith Basins.

Did you know the MET doesn't consider it "heavy rain" unless it's above 4mm/hr?

As we've had max 3.5mm/hr over the past few days, we're just as surprised as you might be to see CSO overflows happening after such a long dry spell!

How does your area look?

www.scottishwater.co.uk/Your-Home/Yo...

Swan on her nest on the Water of Leith basins, 9 eggs underneath but a newly hatched cygnet just starting to fluff up can be seen as the mother stands.

Today is May 6th and the warm weather has certainly been amazing for our local wildlife!

Butterflies, Sand Martins, and Swallows appearing earlier and in greater numbers than seen previously.

What did we see today?

Our first cygnet from the Swan nest has just hatched!

9 eggs left - good luck!

Spring approaches though!

Eider ducks have returned to the basins, the local swan pair has 10(!!!) eggs so far, and we’ve been spotting comma, speckled wood, and orange tip butterflies along the paths near Coalie Park.

We’ve also seen our first sand martins returning to the walls on the docks!

We’ve been quiet here, but busy behind the scenes.

We are entering our third month of water testing two sites on the Water of Leith basins with some citizen science looking at pH, NO2/NO3, phosphates, and E. Coli bacteria presence!

More than a few days of oil spotted and reported to SEPA as well.

Water giant admits 80 per cent of ‘high-priority’ sewage spills not fixed Campaigners condemn ‘slow pace’ of promised upgrades by Scottish Water to stop wet wipes, sanitary pads and other toilet waste getting into rivers

Scottish Water admits 80 per cent of ‘high-priority’ sewage spills not fixed - inews.co.uk/news/water-g...

We got out before the storm to try out our new water testing kit. We’ll sample two locations at regular intervals and share findings with local authorities and stakeholders #citizenscience #whatliesbeneath

First time we’ve seen a teal on the basins. Right by the Victoria bridge,all on its lonesome. #leithwildlife #leith #theshore

Northern lights over The Shore to welcome in the New Year. Happy 2025, everyone.

Merry Christmas! Thank you from #SOSLeith for all your support this past year.

In 2025, we'll keep working towards a #Water of #Leith that's safe, clean and beautiful for everyone. #community #heritage #nature #christmas2024

Illustration of a Christmas scene. Barges are moored on the Water of Leith at night with lights reflecting in the still water. Stars twinkle in the sky. The buildings along the shore are lit up and there are Christmas trees.

Merry Christmas! and thank you from #SOSLeith for all your support this past year.
In 2025 we'll keep working towards a #Water of #Leith that's safe, clean and beautiful for everyone. #community #heritage #nature #christmas2024

Leith shall take good care of it while it’s in our charge!

It’s been an eventful few days on The Shore.

Spirit of Tasmania IV berthed in the port, and some of our members spotted a seal hanging around the Forth lock while it came in.

Looks like that seal did some fishing in the basins yesterday. What a catch! (Both by one of our members and the seal!)

This can only improve by forcing SEPA and other gov't bodies to test and mandate remedial action.

As we've said elsewhere, a big thank you to @katrinafaccenda.bsky.social, @jackrmcaldwell.bsky.social, @benmacpherson.bsky.social, and other elected representatives for supporting the need for action.

Why ‘shocking’ sewage in Edinburgh’s most picturesque river is being ignored Anger mounts after Scotland’s environmental regulator refuses to carry out bacterial testing in the Water of Leith

To catch up a bit on what we are working on,

"Anger is building after the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) rejected a call from City of Edinburgh Council to carry out bacterial testing on the river" - inews.co.uk/news/why-sho...

We need new legislation to test for sewage pollution.

An SOSLeith member standing with two members from Edinburgh Council on The Shore, talking about how to deal with the problem of overflowing bins on the waters' side.

Recently, it's been a busy Autumn!

Last week we met with @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social staff to highlight the issue of litter blowing into the river from overflowing bins right next to the river.

We hope to see additional street bins placed along The Shore, but not right next to the quayside!

We'll be posting not just on our environmental efforts though, but also on what makes The Shore such a wonderful place to live and why we think it is such a unique place, full of life and history, not only within Edinburgh, but within Scotland as a whole.

We look forward to seeing you out here!

We are a small group working for big change here.

We invite you to join us in our fight for better water testing regimes, better water quality, and better accountability from our government, Scottish Water, and the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency.

While we got our start bringing attention to litter and debris in the Water of Leith basins, we now are focused on how Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) impact the wildlife, the people, and all things below the water's line on the 4 basins between the end of the Water of Leith and the Victoria Bridge.

Hello!

While we get fully setup with our new home here on BlueSky, we just want to say thank you for the follows and engagement so far!

For those who are new, we are Save our Shore (SOS) Leith - a community action group focusing on water quality issues around The Shore in Leith, Edinburgh.