People could force sewage up agenda

FULL sewage treatment is not on the political agenda. But it could be if enough islanders press for it.

'If it's a problem that can be dealt with relatively cheaply it could be given more priority than it has been,' said deputy Treasury and Resources minister Deputy Charles Parkinson.

He attended last night's public meeting at the Guernsey Yacht Club, called by campaign group Surfers Against Sewage.

He said that until a few weeks ago nobody was pressing for treatment.

'I came down here to see what the alternatives are. I'm no expert, if it's true you can treat effluent with UV and the cost is, as SAS suggests, £1.8m, why don't we do it?' He added it was an issue that needed investigating.

'The only way to move this up the agenda is for the public to express their concern. At the moment it simply is not on the list of capital projects the States is considering.

'If the States asks, as it has, to prioritise capital spending projects, sewage treatment is going to be a non-starter as things stand.'

But SAS believed that yesterday evening's meeting was the first step to bringing Guernsey into the 21st century.

It has campaigned successfully in Jersey, where a plant was installed 10 years ago, but the pumping of two million gallons a day of raw sewage into the Little Russel brought Guernsey to its attention.

'Jersey was one of the first places in Europe to embrace full sewage treatment and has been doing that now successfully for 10 years,' said SAS campaigns manager Richard Hardy.

'Recreational water sports are widespread and thriving, there's better tourism and better water quality as well.'

The group has a database of almost 900 people that claim to have fallen ill after coming into contact with water polluted by sewage. He said the illnesses ranged from gastro-enteritis to hepatitis A and meningitis.

Some at the meeting backed those arguments by claiming they had fallen sick after swimming or surfing around Guernsey.

'We have hard-hitting campaigns and always work within the law, but we do have a little bit of cheekiness which does help,' said Mr Hardy.

The group said tertiary sewage treatment should be installed, either UV light disinfection or micro filtration, and was seeking public support to keep its campaign in the spotlight.

A petition was handed around last night and is in shops. It is presenting a protest letter at Sir Charles Frossard House today.

'We're looking to have a high-level meeting with your government to press home these concerns and get this issue to the top of the agenda,' said Mr Hardy.

He labelled Guernsey's current policy as the 'pump and dump' perspective.

'It's going back to the Victorian values. It's way past Victorian times now, we're in the 21 century. Guernsey needs to catch up. There's a need for implementation of full treatment,' said SAS campaign assistant Andy Cummins.

There was standing room only for the meeting and SAS believed it was very positive.

'It shows that a lot of islanders care about Guernsey and its marine environment. People care what the problem is, what the solution is and they came out really motivated to take this forward and SAS will help them every step,' said Mr Cummins.