• Diffuse sources of pollution include runoff from roads, houses and commercial areas, runoff from farmland, and seepage into groundwater from developed landscapes of all kinds.

• It is irrelevant whether it is from a pipe or not.  More important is the fact such contamination is driven by the nature of the land use and the impact of rainfall events.

In the recent SEPA Significant Water Issues Report (2007), the importance of diffuse sources of pollution was very evident:

• For rivers, diffuse sources associated with agriculture were the largest sector identified

• For rivers diffuse sources accounted for three of the top four sectors; which were (1) agriculture  (2) collection and treatment of sewage* (3) urban development (rainfall driven contaminated drainage) (4) forestry.

• For lochs at risk of failing to meet good status, agriculture is again the largest sector by impact and forestry is a close third (behind aquaculture).

• Agriculture was also important in transitional and coastal waters (second largest impact).

* Sewage effluents are classically managed as “point sources” rather than the diffuse sources (1), (3) and (4) above.   Other categories of point sources comprised the remaining four identified polluting sectors (industries and refuse disposal).

SEPA's DP website is designed to

• Act as the focal point for Diffuse Pollution  information
• Explain the concept of Diffuse Pollution
• Illustrate the ideas behind the BMPs concept and approach to managing rural sources of diffuse pollution
• Illustrate the ideas behind the SUDS concept and approach to managing sources of diffuse pollution from the built environment
• Provide access to some of the work initiated by SEPA to characterise the problem in Scotland, together with evidence about the types of measures, and their effectiveness, for dealing with diffuse sources of pollution.
• Provide a link to the Best Management Practices (BMPs) Manual
• Provide links to additional sources of information and technical guidance

If you have knowledge of case study sites or developments, or diffuse pollution hotspots, or you are involved with projects and other work that can inform development of action programmes in Scotland, let us know by contacting us at: diffuse.pollution@sepa.org.uk
Let us know by contacting us at: diffuse.pollution@sepa.org.uk