E. Coli contamination of Grouville Beach

[Jack]

E. Coli contamination of Grouville Beach

I’m sure many concerned Grouville parishioners listened with even greater concern to BBC Radio Jersey on the morning of the 12th August 2008 which was hosted by Roger Bara with guest speakers Dr. Tim De Feu (Head of water resources) and Val Cameron (Public Health Protection Team); whom were talking about the recent E. Coli contamination of Grouville beach, and the signs posted warning the following:

PUBLIC HEALTH ADVICE
Le Hurel Slip To Golf Course
Do NOT gather wild shellfish from this area of the beach
Wash hands thoroughly before handling or eating food
For further information please contact Health Protection T. 443717

During the radio show, I was particularly struck by two statements:

1.   Dr. De Feu: “We are monitoring all the outfalls”

2.   Val Cameron: “The source of E. Coli (Escherichia coli) is faecal matter"

Using the logic of Ockham's razor, I decided to do a little research and found the following papers from our government website which may be accessed freely by the public (please see the following documents attached to this e-mail).

Stream water quality on the island of Jersey. A report to the States of Jersey Public Services Department. June 1997. Conducted by the “School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Middlesex University” and “Centre for Research into Environment and Health, University of Leeds”.

http://www.gov.je/statesreports/reports/Stream%20Water%20Quality%20Report%201997.pdf

and,

Bellozanne Sewage Treatment Works. States of Jersey Public Services Department.

http://www2.gov.je/NR/rdonlyres/FB405169-A7CB-4A7F-AAC5-FE334FE00762/0/SewageTreatmentInformation.doc

Well, I will leave you to have a read through both of these reports for yourself, I am sure you will be just as surprised as I was to find:

1. Up until 2005, 25% of all sewerage sludge production by Bellozanne was disposed of by deep injection to agricultural land. From 2005 this is being phased out, no date of cessation has been given (so this may or may not still be happening?).

2. The highest maximum concentrations, greater than or equal to 1,000,000 faecal coliforms / 100ml are at south east coast stream outfall site!

So are we to conclude from the information from these two reports that deep injected sewerage sludge (faecal matter) is now leaking from the land into the ground waters, and that contaminated with E. Coli it is being carried by streams to the lower coastal areas and outfalls, thus being discharged into the beach at Grouville?

If deep injections of sewerage sludge do exists beneath the agricultural fields of the island, these liquefied subterranean reservoirs of faecal matter must be huge, or if not huge, then many?

If this is so, over time, gravity and rainfall are now leaching pollution from these subterranean reservoirs into the ground water and out onto our beaches?
 
I sincerely hope that I am wrong, but if I'm not...................... The enviromental impact and threat to human health would be catastrophic!

Does anyone have any reliable information, or anything else to add relevant to the E. Coli contamination of Grouville beach?

Jack

[Jack]

One further note:

I had a look at Grouville beach on Google Earth (it showed the beach at high tide), I was stunned to see a massive plume of light coloured material emanating from this beach, being swept northwards by the current and away past St Catherine’s breakwater and out into deeper water?

Go and have a look for yourself........

See: http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=il

(Use your mouse to navigate and zoom in)

Refering to the Admiralty Tidal Stream Atlas: Channel Islands and adjacent coast of France. NP 264 (Edition 5 - 1993) Admiralty Charts and Publications.

The movement of the unusual light coloured material observed on Google Earth seems to be consistant with the tidal conditions described by the Admiralty Tidal Stream Atlas .

Is this light coloured material observed on the coast of Grouville an indicator of organic and/or inorganic pollution of our groundwater linked to the States of Jersey's policy of deep injection of sewerage sludge into the agricultural land of this island?

In the States of Jersey Public Services document entitled “Bellozanne Sewage Treatment Works”  which I listed in the previous post, it gives the following information:

Off season population of 85,000 and a peak summer population of 120, 000, with a mean average of the two being 102,500*

* (85,000 + 120,000) / 2 = 102,500

Running the numbers through the mill to get a basic idea of population density, we find:

85,000 / 45 = 1,889 people per square mile
120,000 / 45 = 2, 667 people per square mile
102, 500 / 45 = 2, 278 and average yearly number of people per square mile

In any ones book, that seems allot of people per square mile, don’t you agree?

Jersey is currently listed as being the twelfth most densely populated place on earth, falling between Bangladesh and Taiwan!
 
(See: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0934666.html ).

So where am I going with this I hear you say, well think about it; let’s keep it very simple, and just take the mean average of people, a population of 102,500. 

Now think about what you eat (on average) every day, with the unpleasant but necessary thought of “what goes in must come out”, multiply that amount of food and liquid which you eat by 102,500 times.

Holding on to that thought (I know it’s not pleasant), in your mind’s eye, try and imagine the total size of that amount of food and liquid waste, 102,500 peoples worth which is produced every day.

Now realise this, 25% of what you have just imagined has officially at least, been as treated liquified sludge deep-injected into Jersey’s agricultural land every day up until 2005  ..............

If this is in fact true, we are talking about a huge amount of waste dating back to god knows when?

Any thoughts?

P.S. Please dont use the phrase "imagine Jersey", that is just too obvious a reply!   

[danrok]

I think it is normal to see these plumes in the sea in satellite photos, could be anything like sand, mud, silt, or even plankton.

Jersey hasn't been getting rid of sludge using deep injection since 2005, the sludge is now turned in to fertiliser and sold to farmers. That's about the best way to get rid of it.  Although fertilisers do increase nitrate levels in the ground water.  Jersey Water have been installing equipment which reduces nitrates in drinking water, but I think they still have more work to do on that.

http://www.gov.je/TransportTechnicalServices/Recycling+and+waste+management/Liquid+Waste+Treatment.htm

[Jack]

Thank you for your thoughts Danrok, I thought the same as you at first, maybe it is a natural phenomenon, such as sand, mud, silt, or even a plankton bloom?

Or, a possible link to high concentrations of NO3- and associated compounds accelerating phytoplankton growth in the bay, which in turn may be linked to the leachate from historic deep injected sludge?

But it could be something else entirely?

I also agree with you about the deep injection of sludge being discontinued now, but what about the historic amounts of deep injected sludge?

Have they gravitated to reservoirs locked within the rock strata beneath the surface?

Are they still there?

How many of them exist?

What size are they?

Historically, how far back in time have the States been doing this?

Are they safe?

Are these resevoirs of deep injected sludge which still lay beneath the agricultural fields of the Island a time-bomb waiting to go off?

Please take a little time to at least get a nodding aquaintance of the following documents (in this context, they make some very scary reading, not just in terms of the organic content, but the inorganic elements and other toxic compounds present):

"HUMAN HEALTH AND THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF USING SEWAGE SLUDGE"

http://www.sniffer.org.uk/exe/download.asp?sniffer_news/UKLQ09%20Human%20Health%20Impacts.pdf

and this:

"ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT, 2001 (ACT NO. XX OF 2001) The Sludge (Use in Agriculture) Regulations, 2001"

http://www.mra.org.mt/Downloads/Legislations/LN2001-212.pdf

To be honest Danrock, I dont know, but I do know this "these questions need to be asked, and more importantly, answered"!

[danrok]

My guess would be that if this E. Coli contamination is from sewage, then it would be from fresh sewage in flooded or broken drains, rather than from old sludge.

Building dense areas of housing right on the coastline is clearly not a smart move, unless you want to put the beach and sea at risk of contamination.

As we all know the coast from Grouville right round to St. Helier is very densely populated, right up to the sea wall.

As we all know, our planning people are brainless!

Any problem with foul water drains, or other pollution, and the crap is in the sea before we're even aware of the problem.

[Jack]

The Public Health Protection warning sign says, "Le Hurel to the Golf Course", if you are correct, then that is a very big broken drain?

The signs have been up on the bay for some time now (indicating a long-term contamination) if this is just an isolated domestic spillage from a broken drain, why has it lasted so long?

Surely, an isolated contamination would not have lasted so long on a beach which is flushed clean by the incoming and outgoing seawater tides twice every 24 hours?

This seems to be more indicative of a more massive and prolonged source of pollution?

How long must wild shellfish be subjected to pollution to become a health hazard?
(Btw., shellfish are a good source of information for those wishing to test for pollution from toxic compounds, metals and viral hazzards harmful to Human health!)

I really dont know Danrok, without any documentary or analytic evidence the discussion here must be based on logic and reason to apply reasonable guess-work in order to debate this?

The only people whom may give a definitive answer, are those concerned from our government. If this statement is true, do you honestly think they will release this information to the general public (you and I)?

I would like to think yes! (But so far, I have found very little information regarding the States of jersey policy of "deep injection of sludge" into agricultural land being made availlable on the goverment website to the Jersey public, especially as this must have been a very costly and labour intensive enterprise requiring specialist machinery and a fleet of vehicles to move this sludge to its distribution agricultural field sites)

What do you think?

[danrok]

One big broken/flooded drain, or multiple drains along that area.  Who knows?

We don't know, because as usual we're only given vague information, and not told why a problem has occurred.

If the tide was capable of removing anything from the beach permanently, then there would be no sand there, and they wouldn't have to remove seaweed from the top of the beaches.

Our tides are circular, so if you throw something which floats in to the sea, it just gets washed up further around the coast.

[Jack]

Who knows? Yes I agree, who knows!

Water is known as the "universal solvent", I think seawater as a very potent solvent with its even more destructive halide properties would easily remove a small short-lived and minor contamination such as a broken drain relatively quickly from the beach at Grouville.


If it was me looking for answers, I would first start by analysis of the wild indigenous shellfish in the bay! (indigenous populations of filter feeders are great for this!)

(I would also analyse other indigenous shellfish populations from a number of other Jersey beaches and compare them to those from Grouville)

and,

As water gravitates to the lowest point, I would also start further analysis of the groundwaters at the lowest collection points of these low lying in-land coastal regions.

finaly,

Analysis of Pathogenic micro-organisms that may be found in sludge derived from faecal material present in soil, namely nematode populations, which may act as markers for pollution from deep injection sludge .

Evaluation of sludge treatments for pathogen reduction
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/sludge/pdf/sludge_eval.pdf

What do you think?

[danrok]

It's not necessarily just some minor broken drain problem.  This is why I mention drains flooding and over flowing.  We know this happens during storms, and is not uncommon.  If a sewer is overwhelmed due to heavy rain which finds its way in to the sewer drainage system, which it does do, then that dirty water will overflow in to the storm water drains, and most likely by design!

The dirty water has to go somewhere, so if it didn't overflow in to the storm drains, and on to the beach, it would overflow in to people's homes.

Similar problem here, on a larger scale:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa5317/is_200610/ai_n21399392

[Jack]

Yes I agree Danrok, that is a possibility, but also just as possible, is a rise in water table levels due to heavy rainfall which may also cause accelerated leaching of polution from historically deposited large amounts of deep injected sewerage sludge which has gravitated to form reservoirs locked within the rock strata beneath the surface, especially as we have had so much rain lately?

[danrok]

You could be right, although I think when rain falls it takes a long time for it to soak down to ground water level and come back to the surface again - months or years.

[Jack]

Your quite right, but dont forget, the states of Jersey policy of (the putting to land of 25% of overall sewerage sludge production) deep injection of sewerage sludge into agricultural fields may have been going on for decades previous to 2005, more than enough time for this to finally surface as pollution along the Grouville coast in 2008.

There is one positive in this, Doug Le Masurier sold his Mussel & Oyster farm located in the bay of Grouville to the French!   
Something like this could have wiped out poor Doug's business over night.

I wonder if the French company knows about the E. Coli pollution in Grouville bay?

Remember, the signs state:

Do NOT gather wild shellfish from this area of the beach

Someone from Health Protection must know something about E. Coli that we don't?

Perhaps E. Coli prefers not to contaminate farmed shellfish! 

http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/documents/hansard/43142-6204-1242006.htm

11.2   Senator S. Syvret:

“the oyster farm that was on the south-east coast kept getting told that the levels of e coli in their crops were too great for them to be safely harvested and sold for human consumption”

[Fritz]

I always believed that shellfish, mussels etc thrived at sewerage outfalls. Perhaps thats why the oyster farms are located where they are?

[Conductor]

I always believed that shellfish, mussels etc thrived at sewerage outfalls.

They do, and thats what gives em their unique flavour of semi decade faeces/

[Jack]

I think out of all this, what really upsets me most is that had Roger Bara not broadcast it on his radio show, no one would have known about it, other than from reading the signs that were posted in a few places along the bay.

Had some one who has a sea-front home gone down to the beach and picked cockles, they would certainly not have seen the few signs or known about the E. Coli pollution, and may have have become very ill, or died as a result (I dont even want to think about kids on their holidays)!

The JEP only reported it on Wednesday........  (Page 5, Wednesday 13th August).

The signs have been up for some time prior to Roger Bara's radio show, a member of the public contacted him on the phone-in about the warning signs existance.   

So what are Public Health Protection doing, just putting up signs? Surely they should have contacted the media as well to get the warning out quickly to local people by radio, JEP and Channel Television news (which they didnt), after all, thats what they are there for, isnt it?

The E. Coli pollution news was broken by Roger Bara's investigative journalism, he had to actually ask for Public Health to appear on his radio show, they only appeared the day after he initially broke the news (they trotted out a couple of experts the very next morning)!

What is Grouville Deputy Carolyn Labey doing about it, yes, you guessed it, nothing....... (Don't rock the boat in a storm, sorry Carolyn, no vote from me next election)!

So why did Public Health not publicise this proactively straight away for the safety of Grouville residents (which was the right and decent thing to do!).

Or were they trying to keep this low key, the Jersey way?

Perhaps Guy De Faye would like to go spinning, oops, swimming in Grouville bay to test the waters, the Grouville residents and people who use the beach would then be assured of its high quality by the vitality and continuance of his swimming (I bet he would be great at back-stroke or treading water?)!

Thanks Guy, its good to know we are in your safe and capable hands in matters such as this!



Btw., nice pose!