SEPA set up the warning system to provide alerts on rising water levels and awarded the £4,104,529 Floodline Warnings Direct contract to BT Business  and Cambridge-based software company HTK .

The Daily Record reports that as widespread flooding disrupted rail travel, blocked roads and threatened homes across the country, a software glitch meant those concerned in affected areas could not get the latest internet updates.

SEPA admits they had taken angry calls as the downpour caused panic,  but were working flat out to fix it the glitch. It also issued 29 flood warnings and more than 200 local flood warnings as eastern areas saw a month's rain fall in 24hours and Glasgow recorded 55mm rain in one day.

POLLUTION ENTRY LEVELS
In July, SEPA withdrew seven pollution entries from its online inventory after the Sunday Herald queried them. SEPA accepted that some of the mistakes should have been picked up by internal checks, and it has launched an investigation into how they had been missed.

“It’s always disappointing when there are errors in data that we publish and we will use the problems identified by the Sunday Herald to further improve the way we check the data submitted by operators,” said Martin Marsden, head of environmental quality (left)

SEPA  is also planning to correct pollution figures from 100 sites submitted to the European Commission for 2007, 2008 and 2009. Changes in the method of calculating emissions rather than actual errors requires some 70 alterations.

Professor Andrew Watterson,  (right) head of  occupational and environmental health research group at  University of Stirling argued “Errors might relate to under-estimates from  companies, and will be difficult to pick up so easily as over-estimates," warning " this may present potentially serious longer-term health risks to communities which could continue undetected and unremediated.”