Stay out of the sea
Tuesday 5th August 2008, 2:30PM BST.
Durrington Court resident Jeanine Black was at church when the foul water floods inundated her garage. She is full of praise for neighbours who saved her belongings and for Public Services minister Bernard Flouquet and States Works staff. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0616431)
TOMORROW’S Harbour Carnival has been postponed as Environmental Health warns islanders to stay clear of the sea.
Tens of thousands of gallons of raw sewage were pumped onto east and west coast beaches yesterday after the main pipe at the Belle Greve foul-water pumping station cracked.
Sewage was discharged from the Cobo outfall to alleviate flooding at Belle Greve. That ceased yesterday evening.
Outfalls at the White Rock and St Sampson’s are still being used and emergency pumps at Belle Greve are being used to discharge waste water into the sea.
Swimmers were yesterday warned to stay out of the sea at Cobo, Grandes Rocques and beaches from Havelet to Bordeaux.
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In a modern, civilised and developed western society it is outrageous that the States of Guernsey continue to allow raw, untreated sewage to pollute local waters.
Surely it is time to wake-up and invest in a decent sewage treatment plant to stop this annual nonsense. Guernsey is currently no better off than some third world regimes.
It creates such negative publicity for the Bailiwick.
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Another own goal by the blinkered States of Guernsey!!
An event designed to attract tourism is cancelled because the States can’t get their act together and put in place a sewage treatment system that should have been put in 20 or more years ago.
Get your act together, or more people will leave the island and fewer will visit it on holiday!
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I’m reading this and my jaw is halfway down my knees!! This is dreadful. How can you possibly expect tourists to want to come to a place which still pumps raw sewage into the sea. Its an absolute and utter disgrace and in 2008 a totally unacceptable practice.
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Agreed why do we not have sewage treatment plant?
we cant even swim in the sea.
STATES MEMBERS SORT THIS MESS OUT NOW.
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I have to say that enough is enough. The time for the short sighted ignorant Guernsey pride is now over, pumping raw sewage into the sea is the action of 3rd world states that do not have the wealth to invest in basic infrastructure. The States and well over a 3rd of its members are clearly not capable of making basic strategic decisions on important issues such as having a runway that is long enough not fit for purpose, a sewage system that is not an embarassment to any basic educated population, and revenue generating schemes such as paid parking. For goodness sake WAKE UP, if a group such as Longue Port offer to build a sewage plant then let them do it, stop being a bunch of inward looking Donkeys.
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I am disgusted that this is allowed to continue, get it sorted out before our kids get sick!!
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Got sick twice in 2 weeks after being in the sea recently, and now this, its a disgrace. The islands community needs the sea in summer, its one of the few things to do here! Plus the fact there is a swell around now and i cant go surfing for fear of getting sick again and having to book more doctors appointments.
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I had all my summer holidays as a child in Guernsey, and have started coming back, am visiting next week with friends who are playing in a few pubs in their band. I have raved about how lovely all the beaches are and how clean they are, now I am having to tell them ‘be careful – the water is filthy’. Raw sewage – great, atart looking after your best asset Guernsey, word will get out !!! You are cash rich as an island – start using it on things that matter!!!
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I hope that decisions made by politicians previously responsible for the site will be investigated in order to identify any liability due to negligence and incompetance.
Until they are held responsible for poor decisions (even if made in the past), nothing will change. Having worked as an engineer at the Bellegreve pumping site about five years ago, I can say this type of incident is no surprise to me. The pipe isn’t the only single point of failure which can cause this type of event to occur, and it is probably only a matter of time before something similar happens again.
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Given the States’ hide under the umbrella of collective responsibility maybe they should all go for a swim and then race to the PEH!
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This is an absolute joke. I purposefully voted for politicians who I thought would make a difference and act on this issue and once again no action-this is why people don’t vote.
I usually defend this island to the hilt but this time there are no excuses-STATES SORT IT OUT!!!
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Guernsey is lucky enough to have beautiful beaches, and the beach is a big part of most Islanders lives. The visitors that have saved all year to bring their family to a safe clean Island arrives to find that the beaches and the sea are polluted and unusable. The sea life that will by now have overdosed on human waste, all of this on top of the very real health risks!
In 2008, raw sewage being pumped into our waters is nothing short of a disgrace. Islanders are fed up, and what little tourism we have left will be gone. Spend the public’s money on priorities and stop trying to please the finance industry!
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Hang your well heeled heads in shame! What price off shore finance now.You have the money. Spend it!!!
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A FEW YEARS BACK PEOPLE MARCHED TO “SAVE BELLE GREVE BAY” A VERY JUST AND NOBLE CAUSE AND A CASE OF PEOPLE STANDING UP FOR THEMSELVES AND HAVING THERE SAY. I’M SURE EVERYONE OF THEM WILL BE DEVASTATED AT WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE BAY NOW. DID PEOPLE MARCH TO SAVE THE BAY JUST TO BECOME A HUGE TOILET. I THINK NOT.
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3 out of 4 in our family have been terribly ill for a couple of days with diarrhea and vomiting and several other friends who are also sea lovers. How many other islanders have been sick like this and not bothered going to the Dr like ourselves? Is it all related? Made me laugh last night on the ITV news that you musn’t touch limpets etc on the beaches in Jersey because of possible serious infection. What’s our sea life like then??????
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Yeah good one peeps. And where is the money going to come from to pay for a treatment plant ? Or have you had your heads buried in the sand for the last 3 years ??? Due to the chequebook happy States of 5-10 years ago they blew the pot on a new marina and court building that really wasn’t needed. Don’t expect anything to be built within the next 10 years at least.
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I can’t belive I’m reading this!
We are due to come to guernsey for two weeks on Sunday with two young children. The main reason we come to the Island is for the beautiful beaches.
If I had been aware of the method of dealing with waste prior to now I may have questioned my decision to choose Guernsey previously and am only glad I have chosen Italy for next year!
In an era of cheap flights and increasing competition I’m sure many more will make the same decision if the State does not wake up and rectify this state of affairs promptly.
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Came back from Guernsey yesterday, after a 5 day stay with my husband and 2 children. Fortunatly for us our sea swimming was restricted to Petit bot on the south coast. I am glad we did not stay longer as we would not enter the sea again. The smell around Belle Greve and Cobo Bay was appalling and judging from the obviously wealthy nature of the majority of Guernsey’s inhabitants I am sure it would not hurt their pockets to raise their sewage disposal system to that of a civilised society IE sort out what is literally right under their upturned noses. Now that we are home are we supposed not to mention the cancelled carnival and raw sewage disposal? Not to mention the high cost of livng. It’s cheaper and healthier back home in the west country. I would like to say however that the food was very good and that the ordinary working people were very kind and thoughtful. We will come back when you have sorted out what is important,
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Well this is just flaming great.I start my holidays next week,i was looking forward to spending time with my wife and two children,down the beach swimming and having fun,looks like its ruined before it begins,thanks to the states….
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Is the breaching of the sewage system been engineered to let Long Port in so they can build their treatment plant which would then win over the majority of Guerns thereby breaking down any opposition to the little Venice project….
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A local lawyer should put together a class action against the States of Guernsey for compensation. Anyone affected could join the action – fishermen, hoteliers, visitors etc.
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Guernsey’s effluent disposal “system” is disgusting at best and at worst is unspeakable.
Also just remember that it isn’t only the tourist who suffers: what about the rest of us who have to live with it?
A well-known personality once said that there were two things that made him swim fast- sharks and toilet paper.
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I enjoy reading all the comments and would hope the States pays some attention to them. Unfortuneately this will all be old news in a few weeks and when the dust settles, will anything be done?? I would question if anything will.
It is damaging tourism, it is damaging our reputation and it is damaging our health. Legal action would open the States eyes up to reveal that they are not above the law, however why they try despirately to hold teh moral and legal high ground, 10′s of 100′s of pounds of public money would be wasted which could be spent elsewhere.
What should be done? Instead of the multiple comments of disappointment – this one included. Are there any proactive suggestions out there?
I am not in the water management field, but there must be experts out there that can provide useful suggestions we the public can get behind and hopefully sway the States similarly.
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I think it’s absolutely disgusting that in 2008 raw sewage can be dumped into the sea. It is unacceptable.
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Following up Pete Burtenshaws comment…The same thought has crossed my mind! It certainly wouldnt be the first time things have gone through the back door to get something that has been strongly objected to! Longport will look like the hero when they save the day and fund the new treatment plant!
Nice one!
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I dont know why people are suddenly on their high horse….
All we are doing is dumping sewage in the sea a little closer to the shore then we normally do – no-one kicks off about that yet they find it ‘utterly disgusting’ when they can smell it from the shore?! Try diving out there & then you have the right to complain.
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Isn’t it time that Bernard Flouquet resigned? Blaming the recent sewage problem as an “act of god” is an insult to the people of Guernsey. The blame lies purely with the Public Services department and their short-sighted simpleton of a minister.
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Jon, I don’t think that Bernard Flouquet can be blamed for the ineptitude of many previous Public Services ministers for a failure to deal with sewage over the past 20 years or so when its been known to be a ticking timebomb. Unfortunately the timebomb has now gone off on his watch but the negligence has not suddenly taken place since he came into office. Public Services has been an utter disgrace over the past 20 years, what with massive overspends on the airport terminal and the jetty, as well as failing to address the runway problems, for which nobody was made accountable. This total lack of accountability is of far more concern than anything else.
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I agree, David, considering the nature of the ‘big unnecessary projects’, has there been a vested-interest decision policy based on the boom economy falsely introduced by deregulation?
My worry for this House is that the recessional financial environment will highlight how bad previous decision makers were. It was clear at the end of last term that there were serious flaws in governmental methodology, and now with the continuation of the Lyndon Trott bandwagon, we are experiencing more of the same, if not worse without the restraints of some of the more dyed-in-the-wool inertianialists.
A grin, a couple of thumbs, and a penchant for ambassadorial receptions does not a happy Guernsey make.
Therefore the blame must start somewhere, there is no use blaming the departed, that’s an old tired trick of the politically regressive (also a favourite for Thatcher bashers :)), so Flouquet and Trott, j’accuse.
What is the policy? Where is our direction?
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Very unfair Lawrence, less than 6 months into their tenure, when Bill Bell and others ran PSD for many years and oversaw overspend after overspend. It may be fashionable for the anti zero 10 brigade to blame Deputy Trott for anything from global warming to Zimbabwe and from the Georgian crisis to the extinction of the dodo but I think you will need to be a bit more creative in blaming him for this !
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What if Longport had built their houses out in the bay now, without a treatment plant. All those posh houses would now be full of ****.
How apt is that?
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David, someone at some stage has to be held accountable for year on year neglect. Start now, make the public feel that they have been listened to and install some vision and honesty into proceedings. Not the same old people saying the same old things.
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Lawrence I agree that somebody should be accountable. Call me old-fashioned but I’d prefer to apportion the blame to somebody who was actually responsible though !
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