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Waste water treatment is designed to process waste water whilst protecting the environment and maintaining public health. Outfalls to the marine environment fall into three categories:

1. outfalls from waste water treatment (WWT) plants which process waste water from the mains sewerage system  (this layer);
2. industrial sites which take waste from manufacturing plants (see separate layer - Industrial (SPRI) marine discharges); and
3. some private domestic sources (not on NMPi).

These categories of outfall also discharge to the riverine freshwater environment which eventually reach the sea.

The Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI) is a database of annual mass releases of specified pollutants to air, water and land from SEPA regulated industrial sites. It also provides information about off-site transfers of waste from these sites. The SPRI will provide emission values and waste transfers when they are over the reporting thresholds and indicate if a site releases a pollutant below the threshold. From 2007, SPRI data has been used to fulfill the reporting requirements of the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR).

This data has been filtered by SEPA to include only discharges to marine environment.

Abstraction involves taking water, via pipe, from the sea, using it for an industrial process and then returning it to the sea. SEPA regulates the abstraction of water from the marine environment. This layer displays the locations of coastal water abstractions authorised by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA). It includes details of maximum abstraction rates and industrial sector codes. (Sites greater than two miles from coast have been removed)

Every year, Marine Scotland survey scallop stocks around Scotland and collect biological information on relevant fish and shellfish species. Scallop dredge hauls (30 min duration) are carried out at fixed stations, and the catch rate per hour is calculated.