On Saturday, 23rd August 2025, Profs Bill Sloan and Jill Robbie attended a ‘dip if you dare’ event staged by campaigners in Tighnabruaich.  The event calling for urgent action on sewage management and affordable solutions, amid fears over E.Coli and norovirus in their waters.

The public protest sought to highlight the issue of sewage being directly discharged into the sea. This was part of a long running campaign by the Kyles Coastal Community that has, in a large part, been driven forward by primary school children. For a school project they surveyed the wastewater treatment technologies and pollution along the spectacularly beautiful coastline of the Kyles of Bute, revealing the previously undocumented extent of the problems using maps and posters.  Members of our programme grant team, Elizabeth, Jill and Tania, have been interacting with the community to learn more about the barriers to innovation in water technologies in rural communities, which involved workshops with the school kids and staff.

More than 100 children and adults gathered on the pier and dressed up in ‘poo’ costumes or ‘dared-to-dip’ in the sea for a short swim, in the presence of television cameras. The aim was to draw attention to numerous short, often damaged, pipes discharging raw, or partially treated, sewage onto the beaches and into shallow waters of the foreshore. The kids recounted stories of picnics, paddles, dog walks and ball games ruined by sewage and the adults brought additional concerns for the effects on public health, tourism and the Kyles’ marine ecosystems.

The event was covered by STV news and Caitlin Hutchison visited Prof Sloan at the University of Glasgow to learn more about our research into sustainable and affordable novel technologies to treat waste water for rural communities.  Watch the STV News coverage here.