Jumeirah beach polluted by dumped sewage
Randy British ex-pats aren’t the only thing polluting Dubai’s beaches.
Despite the never ending procession of new apartment blocks and mega-structures, the tourism reliant emirate still lacks the basic facilities necessary to process the sewage it generates. As a result of rapid expansion and poor planning Dubai’s beaches have been contaminated with raw sewage, leading doctors to warn of increased typhoid and hepatitis risks.
Dubai has expanded too quickly for its infrastructure to keep pace; the city still has no mains drainage system and only one sewage treatment works. Tankers collect the contents of septic tanks and transport them to the over-capacity facility located in open desert, where they can queue for over ten hours to unload their cargo.
Time is money for the drivers, who are paid per trip. Undeterred by fines of up to 100,000 dirhams and the risk of having their vehicle impounded some have started offloading into the ditches intended as run-offs for rainwater. The effluent then runs into the sea, then drifts onto beaches, in particular those of Jumeirah, home to the Burj al-Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotels.
Mohammed Abdelrahmane Hasan, head of environmental services was quick to dismiss the problem, “pollution is only affecting an area of beach and all tests prove that bathing is risk free,” he said. Despite this the local authority has set up a public freephone number with a 2,000 dirham reward for confirmed offences to encourage informers after 55 drivers were spotted while dumping their loads in a single week.
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