Sun, sea and sewage in Dubai
Oh my! Really bad Press for Dubai :o(
Sun, sea and sewage in the playground of the rich in Dubai
Sun, sea and sewage in the playground of the rich in Dubai
A noxious tide of toilet paper, raw sewage and chemical waste has transformed Dubai’s most prestigious stretch of shoreline into a foul-smelling health hazard.
A stretch of the exclusive Jumeirah Beach — a magnet for Western tourists and home to a string of hotels — has been closed. “It’s a cesspool. Our tests show too many E. coli to count. It’s like swimming in a toilet,” said Keith Mutch, the manager of the Offshore Sailing Club, which has posted warnings and been forced to cancel regattas.The pollution is a blow to Dubai’s reputation as an international holiday destination offering almost guaranteed sunshine and clear seas.
The debate over who is to blame is also turning toxic, pitting the city’s wealthy expatriates against local authorities, who have been criticised for failing to stop lorry drivers dumping human and industrial waste into the ocean.
The row also illustrates how Dubai’s rapid development threatens to outpace the Emirates’ ability to enforce environmental standards, angering the foreigners that the boom town seeks to attract. Mr Mutch first detected trouble during a walk on the beach last summer. “The stench was unbearable and the water was a muddy brown. There was toilet paper in the sand,” he recalled
He traced the sludge to a storm drain, buried behind a pile of rocks near the dock. It was spewing effluent into the sea. He followed the drain several kilometres inland to the Al Quoz industrial area, which houses the cement, paint and furniture factories that have helped to fuel the city’s rapid growth.
There he discovered that dozens of sewage lorries carrying human waste from Dubai’s 1.3 million inhabitants emptied their tanks into storm drains such as the one leading to the sailing club. The drains, all connected, were built to carry excess water that falls during Dubai’s short rainy season.
According to some truckers — mostly poor workers from southern Asia – illegal dumping of waste is a purely financial decision.
In interviews, several said that they were paid by the truckload to collect waste from the city’s septic tanks and transport it to the only sewage treatment plant in the area.
This involved a long drive into the desert with lengthy queues at the end — so they opted to dump their loads in the storm drains.“We are paid so poorly, we have no other choice,” said one driver, who insisted on remaining anonymous.
Mr Mutch spent several nights documenting the illegal dumping. He sent letters and photographs to the municipality and departments of tourism, health and environment.“At first I was ignored,” he said — but when the local press took up the story the city took action, imposing fines of up to $25,000 and threatening to confiscate tankers and deport drivers. City authorities have since promised to build another sewage pit as a “medium-term solution”, while insisting that the latest test results show water samples to be within safe standards.
Mr Mutch, however, disagrees, citing independent tests commissioned by the sailing club showing that the water is still badly contaminated with bacteria, human faeces and chemicals.
“The water is still not safe. It’s a bleak situation and we don’t know what else we can do,” he said.
From The Times
29 January 2008
Sonia Verma in Dubai
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/travel/news/article5607619.ece
Every villa in my compound uses gravity flow, Every waste water discharge is connected to two septic tank which are buried under the Swimming pool or the tennis court. To extract the waste, they connect the hoses to a pump nearby the perimeter compound adjacent to main gate.
Those old buildings in the outskirts of Doha, no one uses the city sewage, because of the construction date or age of the compound was not required, unless is a new complex or hotel or the main city center.
Any building Outside the city perimeter was not required to tight to main sewage lines during that time. Except septic tanks.
Qatar is trying to change that rule with the new construction sewage codes.
I can only conclude your average QL reader doesn't give a sh*t. No reason why they should, I suppose, unless they are Qataris who SHOULD care about stuff like this.
Laurana DID say, earlier in this thread, that "The new sewage treatment plant which is on construction now (Doha North Project) will cover 3 times the average effluent of existing population. So, we'll be safe for the next 10-15 years....."
So hopefully things are being sorted out.
What else mr? You must be a genius to figure that one out.
"Everything in this book may be wrong." Illusions: The Adventures of The Reluctant Messiah by Richard Bach
The Florida and Georgia coast line.
We had the same problem during the 70's and 80's, until the feds fine both states for 350 million dollars. A massive reconstruction effort was done to divert all that waste to the processing plants. During the effort period, 30 new plants were constructed, know we have the most cleanest beaches in the USA. Only reprocess water, which is called Gray water is only dump into the ocean.
The story of dubai, I would not blame only the truck drivers but the local government for not thinking about their disposal and eco system.
No beach , no tourist. What a bummer.....
Wow, that will bring tourism down even further. One incident like this can take years to overcome.
Mandi
Thanks for the info!
The new sewage treatment plant which is on construction now (Doha North Project) will cover 3 times the average effluent of existing population. So, we'll be safe for the next 10-15 years.....
We gonne have the same problem here..
At present in Qatar there is a big lake formed to take liqufied treated swegage.. Near Salwa Road.. But if the population keeps on increasing then maybe who knows next stop in the sea?..
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HE WHO DARES WINS
around the world have picked up this story. Doesn't bode well for the immediate tourist industry which, I imagine, would lose the country quite a lot of dosh in empty hotel rooms. Well, the ones still being built that is .....
They have no whereelse to dump it anywhere else I suppose.. Because of the envorinmental laws..
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HE WHO DARES WINS
Icky icky icky. My home city just spent 28 million dollars cleaning 200 years of sewage out of our harbour,,,but I suppose that's pennies for Dubai.,
encountered in a famous beach in our country. Good thing is it was acted upon positively and immediately!
They should do it also in Dubai!
"dgoodrebel will always be the rebellious good one"
when it comes to the development of Qatar ...
Considering the current economic climate this type of publicity couldn't be worse for Dubai's wannabe leading tourist destination status.