SEWAGE flooded homes along Les Banques yesterday evening.
A pool of foul-smelling liquid rose up from the Belle Greve pumping station and began to flow into the gardens, garages and homes of the properties surrounding it.
This gallery of photos will be added to as and when additional pictures are received.
If you have taken any other images related to this incident, please email them to newsroom@guernsey-press.com.
People living at Durrington Court, Les Banques, can only watch as sewage floods their garages. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0616283)
Article posted on 4th August, 2008 - 2.29pm
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12 Article Comments
An absolute disgrace.
Total lack of foresight and precautionary measures by the States again.
The holders of the jobs resposible for the overseeing of this type of accident should be replaced.
Yet another fantastic advert for our beautiful island - come to Guernsey and swim amongst the ….. well you catch my drift. Cannot believe they are pumping out at Cobo. Feel very sorry for the residents of St PP who have been affected more than most. How many more ‘unforeseen’ incidents like this will there be before the States sort this out? Don’t tell me - they’re ‘working’ on it….
They still haven’t learnt, have they?
It happend to us in the seventy’s Pumping station at Belle Grave Vinary was not turned on and we were flooded along with a few other families in Victoria Avenue.
the sooner long port get started the better. this just goes to show the lack of planning for the future and much needed investment.
do the general public understand that the main road is built on reclaimed beach? the sea will claim it back sooner or later.
This sewage flooding was an accident waiting to happen and yet the States have dragged its heels over a suitable sewage treatment plant for decades.
Some seem to lie in their beds not worrying about the pollution we are causing to the marine environment (out of sight, out of mind) but this episode brings the matter sharply back in focus, the nasty business raw sewage is. If any of us polluted the environment we would be prosecuted. Is it not time for our civil srvants and politicians to be prosecuted for corporate negligence? Our last bit of the tourist industry must surely now be dead.
Once again we have sewage being pumped directly into the sea, this is crazy can we not afford to sort out a treatment plant and bring Guernsey into the 21st Century? There is all this talk about bringing more tourism into the island but how can we expect this to rise when we do this! I’ve been yacht racing out in the little russel for the last 10 years and I see the sewage and toilet paper floating around all the time, even one of the boats has had to clean a nice streak of it off the hull! Tt makes me wander if all the fish we eat and love have been dinning on this debris? When will the day come when the Guernsey people demand the states do something about this….. surely it would benefit us all when our seas are clear of sewage! Or should we all depend on the finance industry to keep bringing in the money as these headlines will not help the tourism industry, who would want to come to an island surrounded by sewage!
Or should we just burry our heads in the sand and let the states do what they want with our taxes……
Its all crap, excuse the pun! need to do something very soon, i live in the area and the smell on a hot day is unbearable!!
I am disappointed that more information has not been provided in relation to swimmer safety. A hand written sign “RISK OF POLLUTION” does not really inform as to the extent of risk,progress since the initial outburst. Yesterday I saw many swimmers at Fort Grey,Vazon, Cobo, Gran Rocques, The Bathing Pools etc. Noticeably absent were States’ employees running tests on the sea water. What no one seems to want to tell us is ‘when it will be safe’ or ‘how toxin/sewage levels are dropping/rising etc’. As a resident and sea user and sea food fan- this is required information. Although the small road side signs may not be adequate to fit all required information on- so perhaps we will never know and maybe the States will lurch to another disaster and hope we forget the stench and foul debris. Perhaps another ministerial hand bag fight, hike in taxes or a threat to close another school will be in order to distract residents from the real issues.
Untreated sewage flooding freely onto the beaches in warm summer temperatures. It is not only a recipe for disaster but also for some very nasty public epidemics. We watch in distant horror when something like this happens in India or Bangladesh but at least it isn’t on our doorstep. Well, now it is and there is nothing, absolutely nothing, to stop outbreaks of typhoid and cholera, not to mention a spate of stomach infections. Unfortunately, effluent doesn’t recognise boundaries or class or visitors or anything else.
How can the drinking water supply be guaranteed to be clean. Untreated effluent soaks and contaminates everything and everyone. It gets on shoes and thus germs are carried indoors; perhaps transferred to hands when removing footware. Children play and put their hands to their mouths, unaware of the dangers. Animals will dip in polluted sea water and then go to the fresh water supplies for a drink. They don’t understand. If you live near Cobo you will know that there are already some heavily infected mosquitos around.
Knowing the vulnerable situation that Guernsey is in with its effluent discharge, why oh why did the States not have a little insurance put aside in the form of spare pipes? It has to be down to money, as usual, but those who head the States departments, and are responsible for budgets, should be aware that cholera doesn’t care who it kills.
HOW could something like this happen in the 21st century in a society that prides itself on being technologically advanced? Don’t even think of blaming the rain. It’s a natural phenomena that happens all the time. The States could and should have been prepared for a rainy day.
yours in despair
As paid up visitors to the island for the immediate fortnight you can imagine our feelings! To come to Guernsey and find worse than third world conditions is hardly what we expected. Haven’t the States heard about the threat to the global environment when untreated sewage is thoughtlessly pumped out into the long-suffering ocean? Get something done about it Guernsey people, for goodness’ sake.
That such a prosperous island should be in this Third World predicament is an absolute disgrace. A safe and reliable way of treating sewerage should be top of the Island’s list of priorities. Heads should roll over this - but they won’t of course!
A sewage plant should have been built decades ago Guernsey pollutes the sea every day. This should be a priority. All self respecting european countries, towns and most villages of more than l’000 people have sewage plants so why not Guernsey. The states should wake up and vote money for a sewage plant before it is too late!!