IN THE context of what could have been a very long wait indeed, yesterday’s announcement by the Public Services minister that a replacement for the broken pipe causing major sewage spill could be here on Saturday is welcome indeed.  That means, barring any complications, repairs should be completed by Friday week and the beach pollution should start clearing naturally, as householders affected by the flooding continue the clean-up process.
What has assisted enormously is that the damaged section can be replaced ‘off the shelf’, avoiding an unknown wait for one to be manufactured.
That initial uncertainty has led to the department and its minister receiving criticism over not keeping spares for ‘mission critical’ elements of a fundamental part of the island’s infrastructure.
Getting a satisfactory answer yesterday was difficult. Not because PSD would not respond. It did, but its first point was that the department assumed responsibility for sewage and foul water in the government reforms of 2004.
Before then, the Public Thoroughfares Committee held sway and, presumably, has to accept responsibility for the spares policy inherited by PSD. Even then, however, it is not clear-cut.
The way the treatment plant and infrastructure was designed and built suggests that contingency planning was not uppermost in the engineers’ mind. What Public Services can claim credit for is that on taking over in 2004 it ordered an assessment of the whole Belle Greve pumping station and ancillary works which led in 2007 to a four phase refurbishment report being considered by the States.
One of the things its engineers noted was the inability to by-pass the station and part of the multi-million pound refurbishment programme was to provide that capability. It will be of scant comfort for the flooded residents, but the department was less than a month away from completing the essential contingency works when the critical pipe laid some 37 years ago finally failed.
This shows that the old ways are not necessarily the best and PSD can take comfort in knowing that its actions and those of the emergency services in dealing with the burst have gained nothing but praise.