SEWAGE did not cause a surge in bacterial pollution which made a Scottish beach unsafe for swimmers, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) has said.

The agency had issued a warning for Portobello beach on July 10 advising swimmers to avoid bathing at a section of the Edinburgh beach until further notice.

However, further sampling on July 11 follow the advisory notice showed water quality was “back to normal,” according to Sepa, indicating a “short-lived event that had no lasting impact”.

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The agency further added that long-term sampling of water from the site has shown the main sources of pollution to be human, dog and gull waste.

Following water quality sampling tests, known as microbial source tracking (MST), the advice against swimming at the beach was removed on July 12.

Sepa manager in environmental performance Vicki White said beachgoers can help protect water quality by picking up litter to deter gulls feeding and by cleaning up after dogs.

She said: “Microbial source tracking can be very helpful in identifying a source, but in this case our analysis of this one sample has not been able to identify one.

“However, these results, combined with the fact our officers found no issues when we checked Scottish Water assets in the area, do indicate that this was not a sewage-related incident.

“Water sampling will be ongoing throughout the bathing season as part of routine testing, and we will continue to investigate any high bacterial results and take actions to tackle any pollution sources identified.”

Sepa conducts weekly tests of water quality at bathing sites, with all results and predictions available online.