Liss Owen is standing for the Liberal Democrats in the Portobello/Craigmillar by-election on September 3.
‘Too terrified to go in the water’
Last week, the charity chief executive said: “I used to be kind of a keen kayaker, but since I moved to Portobello, I’ve actually only been out there once because I’m too terrified to go in the water.
“I won’t let my dog go in there. We don’t let like my nieces and nephews go in it … it’s just not okay.”
In June, the public was urged to refrain from swimming in the sea at the popular holiday destination after high levels of bacteria were found.
Testing on June 11 revealed 5400 cfu (colony-forming units) of E.coli per 100ml of water.
That was an increase of 13,400% from the 40 cfu recorded two days before, the biggest increase in the UK.
According to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), “single sample results above 500 [units of E.coli] are indicative that water was of low quality when the sample was taken”.
Tests also revealed a spike to 600 cfu on August 4.
Pollution concerns at the beach
Ms Owen told local media: “It was only like a month or two ago that the level of E. coli was 10 times greater than the safe limit. And you’ve seen a lot in the news about various people getting sick.
“I was talking to someone on the street yesterday and her dog was almost at the point of needing to be on a drip and was throwing up for six days. The vets actually said it was because of illness from the sea.”
Ms Owen, who has previously served as a member of Spennymoor Town Council in County Durham, said working with government officials to sort out the pollution problem would be one of her top priorities if elected.
She said: “I know a lot of the changes that need to be made are more kind of at the Scottish Parliament level, but I think as a councillor, we all have a duty to be pushing that upwards and influencing that because councillors in a way have more contact with their local residents than the parliamentarians.
“So I definitely think that needs to be more prioritised.”
Following reporting that senior executives at Scottish Water had received a combined £258,000 in bonuses, Labour MP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Chris Murray wrote to First Minister John Swinney to raise his concerns.
“The shores of Portobello and Musselburgh are beloved by the local community,” he wrote.
“Yet this year there have been repeated incidents of sewage overflows affecting our beaches, such that SEPA have even had to issue guidance against entering the sea. This leaves my constituents horrified.
“The cause is overflows from the sewage system into the sea,” Mr Murray added.
“I have personally taken part in numerous beach clean-ups where we pick up wet wipes, sanitary pads and tampons from the beach.
“The only way they could have ended up there is if they had been flushed through the sewage system and then had been allowed to flow into the sea, where they washed back up on the beach.”
Other priorities in the ward
Ms Owen said that her other priorities for the ward include the revitalisation of the disused Royal George Bingo Club on Bath Street.
She remarked: “I live on Bath Street myself and I only moved here like eleven months ago.
“When more you read into it and you see it’s actually been neglected for a good 10 years now, you just think about all the things that like that space could be good for in the local community.
“I just think to have it sat like that is an absolute scandal.”
She is also committed to serving residents in nearby Craigmillar.
“Looking at Craigmillar Park, I wonder if we could be doing more community events in there,” Ms Owen noted.
“For example, during Pride, they had Porty Pride, which was really good across Portobello, but why could we not do some more of that activity in Craigmillar?
She added: “My partner grew up on a council estate around there and she always said to me that she never voted until she met me.
“I feel like a lot of these communities in places like Craigmillar and Scotland tend to get forgotten about because there’s low voting turnout and politicians often focus on people who are already on the electoral register. But I think that’s really wrong.”