Portobello beach is a frequent site for visitors due to its beauty and close proximity to Edinburgh city centre, but has featured on a list of Scottish beaches with the most unsafe faecal bacteria samples taken this summer.
The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) tested the waters at Portobello on 9 September 2025.
They found 440cfu of E.Coli and 390cfu intestinal enterococci per 100 ml, both of which are considered faecal bacteria.
If ingested, faecal bacteria can cause vomiting, diarrhoea and stomach cramps.
SEPA considered the bathing water in Portobello “sufficient”, meaning that it meets the minimum legal standard for quality.
Many events organised by student societies such as wild swimming and bonfire nights take place at Portobello beach.
SEPA categorises bathing waters as “excellent”, “good”, “sufficient” or “poor” based on a four-year average of monitoring results.
The Ferret has discovered that numerous wild swimming spots in Scotland with “good” or “excellent” water quality classifications were contaminated with high faecal levels, providing a list that details the inaccuracy of SEPA’s labels based on recent sampling.
Irvine beach in Ayrshire was rated among the worst of the Scottish beaches listed.
Despite SEPA rating Irvine beach as “excellent”, The Ferret found that levels of E.coli were over 15 times the safe limit as of the 7th of July.
Image by Eve Robertson for The Student.