What about the water quality?

Trash left by visitors and waste from ships mustsurely cause pollution
Letter from John Lucas, Today Online 1 Aug 08;

WITH regard to the article “Swim at your own risk” (July 31), I feel that the National Environmental Agency (NEA) needs to elaborate on their remark that they needed to “localise” the World Health Organization standards.

It would be interesting to know if water samples were taken twice each day, since water direction is dependent on the tide, and will greatly affect the data, as will the number and type of ships anchored offshore.

The statement that the Health Ministry has not received reports of health problems associated with poor water quality at beaches needs further clarification. Are general practitioners (doctors) required to report all incidents of stomach pain, breathing problems, and eye and ear infections to the Health Ministry, and how are these problems differentiated from other causes?

The NEA gave a clean bill of health to five other beaches without addressing either the physical or chemical integrity of the water.

Anyone who has the visited the East Coast Park can testify to the continuous flood of trash being washed ashore each day. Items like discarded food wrappings, cans, broken bottles, paper litter, wood, tires, batteries, dead fish, chemical containers, discarded condoms, and sanitary towels. Is this considered acceptable?

In Chapter 9 of the WHO report“Aesthetic Issues”, these items correlate with the likelihood of reported gastrointestinal symptoms, and are classified as water pollution.

The hundreds of ships being anchored offshore should be monitored continuously for chemical and faecal pollution because data can change in an instant, and even daily samples are not effective. Buoy transmitters should be placed at intervals along the shoreline to monitor the integrity of a few key parameters to insure real-time notification.

It should be noted that the first and most important step in correcting water pollution is accepting there is a problem.