Sludge Watch ==> Another California Beach Spill

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Beach sewage outcry
By SIMON BEVILACQUA
23apr06
ON most days the view from Norah Giblin's waterfront property is a picture 
of seaside serenity.

A row of white dinghies lines the sandy shore where children play and swim.

But for the past week a foul stench has kept most of her neighbours indoors 
and children have been warned off the beach.

A great sludge of raw sewage mixed with seaweed is piled on the beach -- 
faeces up to your ankles.

A ramshackle temporary plastic fence almost cordons off the putrid gumbo of 
poo and urine.









The waves have swept some of the gunge under the fence and closer to the 
dinghies on shore.

A plastic-coated notice on an A4 sheet of paper is tacked to the fence, 
waving in the breeze. It warns that the water may be contaminated.

May be?

The stinking faeces on the shore suggests the cosy little beach is now a 
cesspool of disease and ill health.

It has not always been this way.

When Mrs Giblin's seaside residence was built in the 1950s it was the only 
house within cooee of West Shelley Beach, at Orford on the state's East 
Coast.

It was the first of a wave of shacks built in the 1950s and 1960s.

The past five years has seen a second wave of far grander homes being built.

The sheltered cove, not far from the mouth of the Prosser River, is now 
surrounded by beach homes and permanent residences.

Mrs Giblin, 92, is the oldest resident. She has watched the beautiful little 
beach grow in popularity.

A little over a year ago, buyers forked out $421,000 for a humble 1964 
three-bedroom beach house at West Shelley.

A waterfront block went for $365,000, and parcels of land have been 
subdivided.

Most of the homes at West Shelley Beach are holiday houses and at Easter the 
seaside community swells.

The local sewage treatment plant cannot cope. Last Sunday, just after Easter 
lunch, a pipe burst and raw sewage poured onto the beach for about an hour.

Locals say it is not uncommon. There have been many spills in the past few 
years.

Holiday-home owner Barbara Evans said: "We've been putting up with this for 
years but this time we've had enough.

"Sunday's spill was absolutely massive."

Even on the Monday, some swimmers were unaware of the problem and had to be 
told to get out.

Another regular visitor to the beach, Rob Horne, said he had seen at least 
three spills in the past two years.

"The stench is enough to knock you over," Mr Horne said. "A lot of small 
children go there, I just hope nobody gets sick."

West Shelley Beach is not alone in its problems.

Tasmania is ringed by shack communities which have felt the impact of the 
real estate boom, urban sprawl and sea-changers.

Communities like Port Sorell, Hawley, Lewisham, Greens Beach, Boat Harbour 
and Kettering have grown into towns and commuters now live there 
permanently.

There are about 40,000 septic tank systems servicing about 100,000 
Tasmanians.

Sewerage systems designed decades ago -- or in Battery Point's case, a 
century ago -- struggle to handle demand.

Stewart Wardlaw, state executive director of the Property Council of 
Australia, said the Tasmanian environment had suffered.

Mr Wardlaw said councils had allowed subdivisions to go ahead without 
adequate infrastructure.

"Councils have chased rates and have had no control over developers," Mr 
Wardlaw said.

"This is getting worse and worse and councils as a collective have kept 
their heads in the sand hoping the problem will go away."

Mr Wardlaw said the state of Tasmania's sewerage systems was deplorable and 
needed immediate attention.

http://www.themercury.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,18898917%255E3462,00.html