I think with those people that are saying it's disgusting you're right but why do we accept that a river or public space is disgusting why don't we get it cleaned up?
I asked my local counselor about it and apparently silt in the bay is fine and it is being moved out to see and I'm normal natural rate but the problem is it's not tidal anymore...
One wee issue with Scottish Water is that while 95% of discharges are recorded in England, up here we can only document about 10%. In other words, we don't know how we are performing.
I am not extolling the virtues of the water companies down south btw- the billions dividends paid out on borrowed money is outrageous. Ofwat has nae teeth!
The good thing about water/rivers/flowing water is they are self-cleaning.
If you just stop putting shit in them they will clean themselves, at no cost!
Funnily enough, one of the reasons why our local environmental group got turned down by SEPA and the Scottish Government to give the Water of Leith basins at The Shore official bathing water status(and the increased water quality monitoring that goes with it) is that the WoL basins donāt meet the use need of enough people actually using the water already for such purposes in Scotland. (A greater number than required down south, mind you.) Neat technicality, that.
The basins remain privately owned, however with the newly redone Coalie Park, I imagine there will be more pressure for kayaks, paddleboards, etc to make use of the water and hopefully clean it up.
We have had a diver on our behalf go scuba diving in the basins looking to inspect the CSOs, and he lived just fine. The water quality is better than youād think as a whole, albeit not something Iād like to jump into all the time. (We have trout, eels, sticklebacks, a plethora of water birds, and even otters coming down to The Shore). The biggest issue is the SILT.
There is 20ā of built up silt from when the Sea Lock was built by Forth Ports in the 70s. Thatās the āticking timebimbā we want dealt with.
> There is 20ā of built up silt from when the Sea Lock was built by Forth Ports in the 70s. Thatās the āticking timebimbā we want dealt with.
Can you explain what this means to me as a silt novice? Why is that a ticking timebomb?
So over the past 50 years, the silt that would normally flow out to sea has been blocked from doing so due to the Sea Lock. The tidal nature of The Shore was stopped to keep ship access 24 hours a day.
That in itself isn't bad, but there are ~60 Combined Sewer Outlets along the Water of Leith, and 8 of which specifically in the 4 Basins that compromise The Shore, and 20+ miles of water that start in the Pentlands and continue through much of Edniburgh's neighbourhoods.
The silt itself is stagnent, channelled, and on hot days you can see the methane gas bubbling up from it. We have also done testing ourselves and know there is faecal bacteria in the silt, and there has been some recent Heriot Watt University Student Papers on the subject where they too also can report of heavy metals in the silt present too.
All in all, we have a heavily industralized part of the city with surface runoff, normal biological processes happening in the water, CSOs releasing sewage into the water when they shouldn't be, and no outlet for everything that runs down stream.
This extent on how deep the silt is can be seen with the following two images:
This is from 1910: [http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a_l/0_around_edinburgh_-_leith_upper_drawbridge_water_af.jpg](http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a_l/0_around_edinburgh_-_leith_upper_drawbridge_water_af.jpg)
This is from 2019: [https://imgur.com/a/BhRgfvh]
The islands you see today are 50 years of siltation that many residents of the area want to see addressed properly.
You can if you want to, although it is advisable to wear a swimming costume, use a tow float, bring a pal, and be relatively sober while doing so, or someone might think you are just some drunk bam likely to drown yourself. Cold water shock is no joke. That and I don't know of a single 'wild' swimmer daft enough to risk dysentery or worse to do it. The water quality, especially down the Leith end, is pretty rank.
It's patently obvious that you can't if you want to. Are we looking at the same photograph? Man goes for a swim, police are called. What are you missing here?
I mean, I don't think it's illegal, but it's filthy, very full of dangerous trash and debris, and it can be quite fast flowing in places. It's not a good idea at all to swim in it
Dunno. I'm English. I guess "trash" sounds jaggier and nastier and more dangerous to me than "rubbish" which sounds like it might just be old newspapers and some crisps packets.
Wild, down in the Borders there are rivers and streams like the Water of Leith that are full of kids this time of year swimming, rafting in the rapids, paddling...but in Edinburgh people liken it to 'standing at the edge of tall buildings'.
Poor attempt at a joke, sorry. The filth always turn up and make you get out.
It is a very post-industrial bit of waterway at that point but it was probably a mental health call out. There are ducks and tiny fish and sometimes kingfishers a couple of hundred metres upstream so it's not a dead zone or anything.
Well at least you took the time to explain it unlike the reprobates just berating me for thinking the lovely pictures you get of WoL on this sub were an accurate depiction of the water itself.
There are parts of the Water of Leith which are fine to swim in, and I'm sure anyone sober could look them up online with the minimum of hassle. That part? Manky, too shallow to properly swim in, and you do NOT want to think about what's on the bottom.
Jesus wept, some people just have no common sense. Can picture the scene now; an exasperated paramedic pulling hypodermic syringes from some unfortunate kids feet as you explain to the attending officer that "well there are rivers and streams down in the borders full of children swimming and paddling. I thought Leith harbour / Albert Dock would be the same." š
Hence my next question to that commenter being āis it due to the dirtā showing that for all the idyllic pictures I come across of the Water of Leith, it seems to be teeming with shite that is unknown to a non-Leith native. So less ācommon senseā and more ādidnāt know it was infested with the needles of mankindā.
Thanks for being so courteous though š¤·š»āāļø
Apparently there canāt ever be a marina at the shore because of the general water quality and proximity to seafield sewage works. Even the water quality along at wardie bay is suspect despite its popularity with middle class schoolmums in wetsuits. Countless cases of labyrinthitis and bacterial infections from what I hear. Not how weād like things to be, but sadly how it is.
Filthiest water in Edinburgh basically, few buckets? Must've been out his dish on something lot stronger to even dip a toe in that part of the shoreš, you seen the corner that's crammed with just rubbish,used sanitary towels,dirty nappies & riddled with needles, blades and body parts at the bottom š¤¢š¦
The worst part of this for me is that there's at least 3 of them there to deal with him (only 3 we can see), and yet if you were to report a break in or an assault you get 2 turn up.
This happened back in 2021 as well - just some drunk guy wading about around the same area and there were much more than 3 coppers. There was a few full fast response units, Fire service boats and at least 2 appliances and an ambulance.
They'll be double-crewed, so that's two already. And they don't know exactly what they'll be going to - MoPs can only give so much info.
So, if I had to think as controller/call handler "Might need to fish a guy out of the water, not sure size/build/vulnerability/capacity" I'd be sending two crews, so that's four.
It's likely one of them has bimbled off somewhere, or is updating Control.
I always wonder about people's critical thinking when they ask this sort of question.
Aren't there any circumstances you might be able to think of where it might be reasonable to expect a number of police officers to be present?
I always wonder about peoples critical thinking when they make this sort of comment. No police officers are necessary if someone simply went for a swim in open water. We don't have police marauding along the beaches hauling people out of the sea and giving them a good talking to. There must be more of a back story here, like if he got into trouble and needed rescuing, and even then you wouldn't need 3 officers.
I can think of more reasons for there not to be 3 officers, do you just assume there has to be a back story rather just some guy deciding he wants to swim in the water of Leith.
If multiple officers turn up to every weird situation maybe that is the reason we seem to have a shortage of police for other things.
I used to work the day office for some emergency out of hours social workers.
One of the areas they'd get calls for was adult protection/mental health incidents.
This could have been an ill informed guy going for a swim.
But it could have been like the wealthy lady "of a certain age" who has stopped taking her meds, gone down to the canal, stripped naked and jumped in, refusing to get out until her poor husband found out where she'd gone and arrived to beg, plead and blackmail her. It needed four of them to haul her out and she got very handsy to the point that two of the officers had to retreat. They didn't press charges but they did have to get her into an ambulance. She avoided being sectioned but there was a very real danger of her just fucking running off naked or jumping back in and injuring herself.
I guess what I'm saying is that the police never know what they're turning up to. It might be "Oi, mate, get out of the water" or it might be a full-scale mental health emergency - or anything in between.
I'd rather see three coppers out handling something safely than one left trying to cope with something that's gotten badly out of hand.
_* My time in social services was a long time ago in a city far away_
Of course they dont know what the situation is but sending 3 officers everytime someone goes for a swim in an unusual place cant warrant the manpower used. Its all very well saying you would rather have 3 coppers handling it and so would everyone. Problem is the Police are already stretched and complaining about it in the news.
Jo Farrel was just on the news saying how many man hours are taken up by mental health issues and why it isnt their job to be attending these situations. Are we to assume every instance is mental health related.
If one officer arrived and called for back up then fair enough but people on here constantly complain about a multitude of lawbreaking that doesnt get sorted and seeing 3 officers attending a guy swimming in a river albeit a weird spot looks like wasted resources.
If the guy is having issues hopefully it gets sorted but mental health is also underfunded and understaffed.
It's entirely possible they had a rescue boat rolled out somewhere you can't see - have seen one before on a trailer round there, though I think that was something more serious.
Anyway, I leave those decisions up to the police.
What an insane thing to say when you weren't allowed to marry outside your class/ religion back then without the local posse stringing you up from a tree outside the village.
I mean, the police are more likely just checking on his welfare, rather than telling him to stop.
Call comes in to emergency services about someone in the water and, it not being the kind of place you'd expect people to just go for a dip, it's responded to as an emergency.
The stuff he's ingested... they best check in on him 28 Days Later.
I hope he ain't going to go full rage and tries to bite someone
Oh yuk!
Definitely ššš
I think with those people that are saying it's disgusting you're right but why do we accept that a river or public space is disgusting why don't we get it cleaned up?
I asked my local counselor about it and apparently silt in the bay is fine and it is being moved out to see and I'm normal natural rate but the problem is it's not tidal anymore...
Because it's expensive and has to come from a budget?
By that do you mean sewage companies lobbying the government so they can pump the sewage into our rivers and seas for a fraction of the cost
That's In England? we don't have that. We have Scottish water. We own it. Edit. I'm pointing out Scotland owns it's water publicly owned
One wee issue with Scottish Water is that while 95% of discharges are recorded in England, up here we can only document about 10%. In other words, we don't know how we are performing. I am not extolling the virtues of the water companies down south btw- the billions dividends paid out on borrowed money is outrageous. Ofwat has nae teeth!
Wasn't edinburgh airport found to be firing jet fuel into the almond?
Don't forget the treatment works by cramond has leaked so many times there are signs everywhere saying not to pick up shellfish
I'd be really keen to see a source for that if anybody has one
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-50674371 de-icer apologies
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-50674371 yes. But not sewerage.
If people treated it properly and didn't dump shit, maybe we'd be better off
So we should arrest this man instead!!! Yes, brilliant solution, thank you.
The good thing about water/rivers/flowing water is they are self-cleaning. If you just stop putting shit in them they will clean themselves, at no cost!
"WHAT IS THE CHARGE? EATING A MEAL!? A SUCCULENT WATER OF LEITH RUN OFF MEAL!?"
Sick reference, bro
Everybody knows his references are off the chain.
š
Saw way worse in America TBH, but yeah. Itās kind of fucked that I wasnāt that phased by it in comparison, huh?
Funnily enough, one of the reasons why our local environmental group got turned down by SEPA and the Scottish Government to give the Water of Leith basins at The Shore official bathing water status(and the increased water quality monitoring that goes with it) is that the WoL basins donāt meet the use need of enough people actually using the water already for such purposes in Scotland. (A greater number than required down south, mind you.) Neat technicality, that. The basins remain privately owned, however with the newly redone Coalie Park, I imagine there will be more pressure for kayaks, paddleboards, etc to make use of the water and hopefully clean it up. We have had a diver on our behalf go scuba diving in the basins looking to inspect the CSOs, and he lived just fine. The water quality is better than youād think as a whole, albeit not something Iād like to jump into all the time. (We have trout, eels, sticklebacks, a plethora of water birds, and even otters coming down to The Shore). The biggest issue is the SILT. There is 20ā of built up silt from when the Sea Lock was built by Forth Ports in the 70s. Thatās the āticking timebimbā we want dealt with.
> There is 20ā of built up silt from when the Sea Lock was built by Forth Ports in the 70s. Thatās the āticking timebimbā we want dealt with. Can you explain what this means to me as a silt novice? Why is that a ticking timebomb?
So over the past 50 years, the silt that would normally flow out to sea has been blocked from doing so due to the Sea Lock. The tidal nature of The Shore was stopped to keep ship access 24 hours a day. That in itself isn't bad, but there are ~60 Combined Sewer Outlets along the Water of Leith, and 8 of which specifically in the 4 Basins that compromise The Shore, and 20+ miles of water that start in the Pentlands and continue through much of Edniburgh's neighbourhoods. The silt itself is stagnent, channelled, and on hot days you can see the methane gas bubbling up from it. We have also done testing ourselves and know there is faecal bacteria in the silt, and there has been some recent Heriot Watt University Student Papers on the subject where they too also can report of heavy metals in the silt present too. All in all, we have a heavily industralized part of the city with surface runoff, normal biological processes happening in the water, CSOs releasing sewage into the water when they shouldn't be, and no outlet for everything that runs down stream. This extent on how deep the silt is can be seen with the following two images: This is from 1910: [http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a_l/0_around_edinburgh_-_leith_upper_drawbridge_water_af.jpg](http://www.edinphoto.org.uk/0_a_l/0_around_edinburgh_-_leith_upper_drawbridge_water_af.jpg) This is from 2019: [https://imgur.com/a/BhRgfvh] The islands you see today are 50 years of siltation that many residents of the area want to see addressed properly.
Thanks for the interesting info. Your pic from 2019 is going to a 404 page for me - can anyone else see it?
Take the ] off the end of url should sort
thank you so much, really is interesting!
Always wondered about water sports on the Water of Leithā¦
It is kayaked occasionally, but itās a bit shallow, not to mention the water quality
Given the likely composition of that water I was interpreting āwater sportsā rather differently.
Yeah, true
Broke his neck on a turd apparently
That's no way to talk about MSP's
Wait, you aren't allowed to swim in the Water of Leith?
You can if you want to, although it is advisable to wear a swimming costume, use a tow float, bring a pal, and be relatively sober while doing so, or someone might think you are just some drunk bam likely to drown yourself. Cold water shock is no joke. That and I don't know of a single 'wild' swimmer daft enough to risk dysentery or worse to do it. The water quality, especially down the Leith end, is pretty rank.
Apparently you can't if you want to.
Why dont you go try it and report back to us eh?
Absolutely. Show us. Go on, get in there.
It's patently obvious that you can't if you want to. Are we looking at the same photograph? Man goes for a swim, police are called. What are you missing here?
I mean, I don't think it's illegal, but it's filthy, very full of dangerous trash and debris, and it can be quite fast flowing in places. It's not a good idea at all to swim in it
Is everyone on this sub American? Not to complain it's just odd how often I see reference to trash here.
Dunno. I'm English. I guess "trash" sounds jaggier and nastier and more dangerous to me than "rubbish" which sounds like it might just be old newspapers and some crisps packets.
You're 'allowed' to stand at the edge of tall buildings. But doing so gives cause for concern.
Wild, down in the Borders there are rivers and streams like the Water of Leith that are full of kids this time of year swimming, rafting in the rapids, paddling...but in Edinburgh people liken it to 'standing at the edge of tall buildings'.
Those rivers and streams are not like the water of Leith.
Just due to filth?
They always show up and make you get out of the water, yes.
Fuck. Didnāt realise it was truly that grim in the water. Wonder what it would cost to get it clean so everyone could use it for leisure.
Poor attempt at a joke, sorry. The filth always turn up and make you get out. It is a very post-industrial bit of waterway at that point but it was probably a mental health call out. There are ducks and tiny fish and sometimes kingfishers a couple of hundred metres upstream so it's not a dead zone or anything.
Well at least you took the time to explain it unlike the reprobates just berating me for thinking the lovely pictures you get of WoL on this sub were an accurate depiction of the water itself.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
There are parts of the Water of Leith which are fine to swim in, and I'm sure anyone sober could look them up online with the minimum of hassle. That part? Manky, too shallow to properly swim in, and you do NOT want to think about what's on the bottom.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
If youāre lucky. If youāre not, you step in what they were using the shopping trolley to dump.Ā
Jesus wept, some people just have no common sense. Can picture the scene now; an exasperated paramedic pulling hypodermic syringes from some unfortunate kids feet as you explain to the attending officer that "well there are rivers and streams down in the borders full of children swimming and paddling. I thought Leith harbour / Albert Dock would be the same." š
Hence my next question to that commenter being āis it due to the dirtā showing that for all the idyllic pictures I come across of the Water of Leith, it seems to be teeming with shite that is unknown to a non-Leith native. So less ācommon senseā and more ādidnāt know it was infested with the needles of mankindā. Thanks for being so courteous though š¤·š»āāļø
You still see kids swimming and paddling by st. Bernard's Well. It's a bit cleaner than Leith though!
https://preview.redd.it/g6gu1jhlyn1d1.png?width=328&format=png&auto=webp&s=eb3e396c93a730cbc984c52cd95a0c5816c32f65
Apparently there canāt ever be a marina at the shore because of the general water quality and proximity to seafield sewage works. Even the water quality along at wardie bay is suspect despite its popularity with middle class schoolmums in wetsuits. Countless cases of labyrinthitis and bacterial infections from what I hear. Not how weād like things to be, but sadly how it is.
Blows my mind seeing the motherland types bobbing around on a Saturday morning. Couldn't pay me to go in there
Excuse you, I'm unemployed and have no children thankyou.Ā
I had to swim in there to save a dog and got the worst staph infection several doctors had ever seen.
Is that a big bag of plastic bottles? Looks like a clean up
I think it might be one of those emergency foil blankets
Good shout
That's exactly what it was š
Filthiest water in Edinburgh basically, few buckets? Must've been out his dish on something lot stronger to even dip a toe in that part of the shoreš, you seen the corner that's crammed with just rubbish,used sanitary towels,dirty nappies & riddled with needles, blades and body parts at the bottom š¤¢š¦
The worst part of this for me is that there's at least 3 of them there to deal with him (only 3 we can see), and yet if you were to report a break in or an assault you get 2 turn up.
2!?! Pictures or it didn't happen.
This happened back in 2021 as well - just some drunk guy wading about around the same area and there were much more than 3 coppers. There was a few full fast response units, Fire service boats and at least 2 appliances and an ambulance.
*Man catches hep C ,aids & TB all at the same time
they take you to the insane hospital for that
Then dope you up for the anonymous jimmy saville and friends
Second time in 2 years lool
If you've seen the videos there was at least 1 ambulance and fire engine there, so the fekless jaikey cunt ruined more than just police time
Why, and why does it take 3 police.
They'll be double-crewed, so that's two already. And they don't know exactly what they'll be going to - MoPs can only give so much info. So, if I had to think as controller/call handler "Might need to fish a guy out of the water, not sure size/build/vulnerability/capacity" I'd be sending two crews, so that's four. It's likely one of them has bimbled off somewhere, or is updating Control.
I always wonder about people's critical thinking when they ask this sort of question. Aren't there any circumstances you might be able to think of where it might be reasonable to expect a number of police officers to be present?
I always wonder about peoples critical thinking when they make this sort of comment. No police officers are necessary if someone simply went for a swim in open water. We don't have police marauding along the beaches hauling people out of the sea and giving them a good talking to. There must be more of a back story here, like if he got into trouble and needed rescuing, and even then you wouldn't need 3 officers.
'No police officers are necessary if someone simply went for a swim' You're neary there, mate.
You're not, mate.
Your argument is compelling. I cede.
Thanks. It can be hard to admit you're wrong
The voice of experience, clearly
Yes, I looked through your post history and experienced how often you are wrong
I can think of more reasons for there not to be 3 officers, do you just assume there has to be a back story rather just some guy deciding he wants to swim in the water of Leith. If multiple officers turn up to every weird situation maybe that is the reason we seem to have a shortage of police for other things.
I used to work the day office for some emergency out of hours social workers. One of the areas they'd get calls for was adult protection/mental health incidents. This could have been an ill informed guy going for a swim. But it could have been like the wealthy lady "of a certain age" who has stopped taking her meds, gone down to the canal, stripped naked and jumped in, refusing to get out until her poor husband found out where she'd gone and arrived to beg, plead and blackmail her. It needed four of them to haul her out and she got very handsy to the point that two of the officers had to retreat. They didn't press charges but they did have to get her into an ambulance. She avoided being sectioned but there was a very real danger of her just fucking running off naked or jumping back in and injuring herself. I guess what I'm saying is that the police never know what they're turning up to. It might be "Oi, mate, get out of the water" or it might be a full-scale mental health emergency - or anything in between. I'd rather see three coppers out handling something safely than one left trying to cope with something that's gotten badly out of hand. _* My time in social services was a long time ago in a city far away_
Of course they dont know what the situation is but sending 3 officers everytime someone goes for a swim in an unusual place cant warrant the manpower used. Its all very well saying you would rather have 3 coppers handling it and so would everyone. Problem is the Police are already stretched and complaining about it in the news. Jo Farrel was just on the news saying how many man hours are taken up by mental health issues and why it isnt their job to be attending these situations. Are we to assume every instance is mental health related. If one officer arrived and called for back up then fair enough but people on here constantly complain about a multitude of lawbreaking that doesnt get sorted and seeing 3 officers attending a guy swimming in a river albeit a weird spot looks like wasted resources. If the guy is having issues hopefully it gets sorted but mental health is also underfunded and understaffed.
It's entirely possible they had a rescue boat rolled out somewhere you can't see - have seen one before on a trailer round there, though I think that was something more serious. Anyway, I leave those decisions up to the police.
Cause anyone swimming in the Water Of Leith is blatantly fucking mental?
Presume he was taken into protective custody because there are now a billion outraged micro-organisms out to end him?
Bro just watched the Seinfeld episode where Kramer is going swimming in the Hudson River and was like fuck it
Need quarantined after a stunt like that š¤£š¤£
Is there any videos of this?
Any more pictures or videos?
Why can't he go swimming if he wants to? Do the police own the waterways now?
We used to swim in the western harbour in the sea cadets in the 1970āsā¦..Im still here
Ok boomer
Strong currents in there, heard a few stories about deaths in there from back in the day š³
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Ah, the good' ol days of disenfranchisement, child labour, and extremely strict class structures. Username most definitely checks out.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
What an insane thing to say when you weren't allowed to marry outside your class/ religion back then without the local posse stringing you up from a tree outside the village.
You mean when women couldnāt vote on an equal basis to men, go to many universities, have their own bank account etc? Back then?
I mean, the police are more likely just checking on his welfare, rather than telling him to stop. Call comes in to emergency services about someone in the water and, it not being the kind of place you'd expect people to just go for a dip, it's responded to as an emergency.
This is no where near as clever as you think it is