SO THAT’S all right then. Panic over. Thousands of gallons of raw sewage are no longer pouring into the sea every hour of every day from various pipes around the island polluting beaches and representing a health hazard to bathers.
Instead, thousands of gallons are pouring into the sea just below the low water mark at Belle Greve Bay. Not so much plus ca change! as phew! ca change.
If the damage to the island’s coastline has been temporary, the stain on its reputation will take far longer to scrub off. Holidaymakers have made their disgust clear on learning that a wealthy island such as ours employs such Third World techniques for ridding itself of waste.
And who can blame them? Imagine arriving at your island paradise in the Med with your family for a well-earned two-week summer break only to find signs on the beaches warning you that swimming was dangerous because of raw effluent.
If there are people and politicians still willing to peddle the old ‘it’s OK because the sea’s strong currents disperse the sewage so quickly’ argument they are now surely rarer than a good beach guide award at Fermain Bay.
Society will no longer accept such a polluting method of sewage disposal. End of story.
Except it isn’t the end. That will come only when enough money and a suitable space is found to build a treatment plant.
At the last count it was at least £50m. and would no doubt now be far more expensive. And who wants a sewage plant on their doorstep?
But islanders need this problem sorted. It is a national embarrassment.
However, as we read today, sewage treatment will have to fight hard for its cash. Education has two huge schools to rebuild and Health wants to modernise mental health services. Both are worthy causes.
And there are those who would prioritise a new runway surface above them all, simply because of its vital importance to our economy, without which nothing gets funded.
Yet these are tough times. And who is going to fight for a sewage treatment plant? Commerce and Employment for one. Yet the supposed champions of tourism, are notable only for their silence.