Many of Scotland's best-known rivers and lochs are failing to meet environmental cleanliness targets, a watchdog report revealed yesterday.

The Spey and Tay both miss out on the top two levels of a new European grading framework, while the Forth and Dee were branded "poor" by investigators from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa). The River Clyde, for the last 15 kilometres of its length, was given the worst rating possible. Loch Lomond achieved only a "moderate" rating, while Loch Leven was dismissed as "bad/fail".

Though just over half of the nation's waterways and coastlines meet the benchmark criteria for "good or better", 38% of Scotland's water falls below the desired levels.

Adding to the environmental hurdles Scotland must overcome in future years, the report warns that hundreds of key waterways are expected to fail to achieve "good" status by 2015.

The River Spey, which flows through the heart of Scotland's whisky country, is among those unlikely to gain top level accreditation six years from now, while dozens of tributaries to the Tay, one of the world's most renowned salmon-fishing rivers, will also miss out.

Scotland's water was assessed under the government's river basin management plan, published yesterday. New European measurement standards were applied for the first time.

Environment minister Michael Russell said: "We must continue to seek out improvements beyond those set out in the draft plans to help achieve a healthy water environment. To this end the Scottish Government has released two consultations which look at further ways that we can make improvements over the long term."

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