A Highland Perthshire waterside holiday resort at the centre of a sewage spill incident which saw an open water swimming competition cancelled has requested permission to upgrade its waste treatment facility.
There were angry scenes at The International Winter Swimming Association’s (IWSA) Scottish Winter Swimming Championships held at Loch Tay over the weekend of February 24-26.
On the second day of the event, the water near the entry point was contaminated by the sudden discharge of raw sewage.
Taymouth Marina at Kenmore had been hosting the SwimWild swimming event which saw hundreds of extra people needing to use the resort toilet facilities.
During the break for lunch on Saturday, when no swimmers were in the water, solid matter was seen floating on the surface where competitors were expected to enter.
It spread around 20m from the leakage point and all further swimming was abandoned, leading to dozens of disappointed participants leaving early.
Further relay and endurance races were cancelled for “safety reasons”.
SwimWild outdoor swimming organisation slammed the Highland Perthshire resort and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for claiming overcapacity caused the raw sewage leak.
Taymouth Marina management said the cause of the pollution was a “one-off” mechanical fault.
After the incident, SEPA said matters had been rectified and ruled the water safe to enter the following day.
A SEPA spokesperson also concurred with the resort’s assessment that the sewage capacity became “overwhelmed” by the number of visitors on site.
SwimWild event participants got no instant refund as the call-off happened after competitions had begun.
In the following weeks, SwimWild revealed it planned to pursue legal avenues for compensation from the host resort’s insurance, which they would use to partially or fully refund attendees.
Last week, Perth and Kinross Council was presented with a planning application from Taymouth Marina.
Strathtay Developments Ltd is asking for permission for the “installation of replacement sewage treatment plant at Taymouth Marina, Kenmore”.
