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Raw sewage discharges around island a growing concern
by Richard Hardy
31/08/2007:// Campaigners from Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) will today hold very visual actions at Weymouth and Poole ports to lobby Guernsey-bound travellers concerning the ongoing discharge of raw sewage around the island’s coastline.
PHOTOCALL: A delegation of wet suited, surfboard carrying, campaigners from SAS will meet at the foot passenger entrances to Weymouth (5:30am start) and Poole (12 noon start) Ports along with a 12 foot inflatable turd and placards to inform Guernsey bound travelers, on Condor Ferries Fast Ferry services, that at least 4 million gallons of raw sewage and wastewater are discharged each day into the sea around Guernsey.
Today’s actions coincide with Day 1 of the Guernsey Regatta – a 10 day-long sea-themed celebration on the island. Much of the event’s activities will be based on the water, but many people will be surprised to learn that the raw sewage from 60,000 people on the island is each day, routinely dumped in the sea off Guernsey, primarily in the very area where people are to compete throughout the Festival.
SAS have been calling on the island’s government to introduce a full sewage treatment policy but despite several year’s of campaigning the Government has yet to adopt a position on sewage treatment, despite publishing a green paper in January 2006 where it admitted that “the island’s current long sea outfall may comply with best practice for developing countries but would no longer be considered an acceptable permanent means of sewage disposal in any developed country”.
In complete contrast to Guernsey, neighboring island Jersey, invested in state of the art sewage treatment in the mid 1990’s and has since benefited from clean and safe water, as have many seaside resorts around the UK allowing them to consistently meet the guideline water quality standard set down by the EU Bathing Water Directive.
SAS believes people planning to visitor Guernsey for this festival and/or who plan to use the sea for recreation whilst there, should be aware that raw sewage is still dumped at sea and our urging them to get behind the SAS campaign that calls for full (tertiary level) sewage treatment to be implemented as a matter of urgency. Over 4000 islanders from Guernsey have also signed an SAS petition calling for this policy to be implemented, which highlights this as an area of concern for those living Guernsey in addition to those potentially visiting the island.
Richard Hardy, SAS Campaigns Director says: “There’s no real excuse not to fully treat sewage anymore. The technology has been tried, tested and embraced by many coastal resorts around the UK and Europe for the past 10 years, drastically improving water quality and reducing health risks to bathers. Guernsey’s current disposal method differs little to that used in Victorian times – pumping raw sewage to sea through a long sea outfall and letting ‘nature takes it course’. Unfortunately ‘nature’ does not easily breakdown the 100 different types of human viruses that can be found in sewage, with some choosing to survive in seawater for several months at a time! During this time they could latch on to the unsuspecting water user, making them ill”.
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