“Greaseballs” Wash Up At Grape Bay Again
Following the incident two weeks ago, additional “greaseballs” washed up at Grape Bay Beach in Paget again today [May 2].
A Government spokesperson said, “This morning a Department of Parks team was alerted to the presence of greaseballs on Grape Bay and immediately investigated several South Shore beaches and removed the grease balls from Grape Bay.
“There were no grease balls found on Elbow Beach east from Coco Reef to the west end at Coral Beach.
“The general public can call the Department of Parks Office at 236-5902 from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday to Friday or on Saturday and Sunday 599-5902 to report sightings of any greaseballs.”
“Parks crews will check those South Shore beaches again tomorrow,” the spokesperson added.
The issue has been in the headlines recently, following the “Security Message” entitled “Contaminated Beaches” citing the “ongoing dumping of raw sewage off Bermuda’s south coast,” issued by the U.S. Consulate on March 31st.
The advisory from the U.S. Consulate added that “In 2013, as many as five of the beaches were described as ‘unfit for recreational use’ on different occasions based on water samples.”
The Government has repeatedly said the water is safe to swim in, and also released results from water sample testing, saying that they “were all of a good quality.”
Read More About
Category: All, Environment, News
Looks like Ewart is at it again.
Four Ughurs and a greeseball.
Love it.
Ps. The Consulate knew about ’4 calling birds’.
Dear Bermuda,
We are concerned. You have wasted time, here comes the Summer tourist season and your response to this issue has been totally underwhelming.
It surely would’ve been a better plan to address this issue before the US Consulate felt he had to do so. We expected better from you.
Please announce ACTION to remedy this situation. Acknowledge it. Face it. Solve it. Make some positive steps very quickly. The time lost in the meantime, and the unfair criticism of the US Consulates actions (to his credit, he took action when he saw none for several days), was a poor path to allow this story to evolve.
Please, please, acknowledge and solve this problem, much damage has been done. Action!
Thanks and kindest regards,
The rest of the planet
Well said @Paradise Reclaimed
Government need to come up with a Short-term and Long-term solutions to this problem. Playing the blame game will not resolve the ongoing issue. Get on with the business of finding way to address the problem. This immature game of blame is getting old and does Bermuda no good, as what is left of our tourism season comes into play.
Just returning from Australia, and their beaches are wonderfully clean despite the summer coming to an end there.
Well said Betty and well done for not getting eaten by a a Great White Shark while down under, (you would be missed).
It must be nice to live in a place where you just get rid of things by just saying it should be so. If we had that here we could just make it so by saying it should be so must be.
Unfortunately we here in Bermuda have no reality show location, we actually have to fix the issues which take time and money no magic wand will fix this and repeating the chant just make sound like the record is stuck.
If you want to play the blame game then first look I’m the mirror when you next flush. The vast majority of the island feeds into a system with an outfall. ( just like the majority of coast line and island locations not that justifies anything )
This has been going on probably a hundred years with small improvements but clearly not enough. The point is anyone here for the last fifty years has know but was too busy with other priorities .
I believe that it has a focus now but of course the timing sucks cause we can’t borrow like we could so we will need to be creative. If all the know it alls on these comments would just show the rest of us by not flushing until there is a complete “fix” they might actually contribute something positive to the situation .
Most office buildings were built to deposit into the City sewer. The houses have individual cesspits on each property, no connection needed.
Responsible owner of the system would have attached an extension pipe to channel the present effluence far and deep beyond the reef a few years, let alone weeks, ago to show good face to the world. Face is very greasy, needs Sunlight soap & lemon now.
Where do you think the truck that pumps out the pit takes it to dump?????
Not to mention what the pit does to the ground water table .
People really need to better understand the impact their lifestyle has on the environment. Not what they ignore because someone else can deal with it.
A serious reality check for all the people who think a) this is going to go away anytime soon and b) that taking daily pictures is going to help anything.
The government has the point in spades . The daily water testing and posting is a better gauge than the ball on the beach on what can affect you when you swim. Unless you play with the ball that is.
Terry, DR Brown jokes.. seriously question your IQ
@Serious.
My “IQ” is quite good actually and slightly above average.
Come out of your cave along with others and view reality and what helped get us where we are today.
Now. Where is our $800 million.
Shalom
You can dislike all you want you PLP peeples.
Dr. Brown is back in town.
Just look around at the town and the clown.
Truth is a beach with a cliff……
Shalom.
Dislike.
Houston…. We have a problem !
The pink sand looks nice. A pity about the bits of plastic and the grease balls. Could sales of cooking grease be matched with collection of used cooking grease? Not certain how expensive would it be to monitor that.
Ideas?
Ride
Easy partial Solution! Put an additional $20 tax on each gallon (or whatever)of cooking grease. We know that a portion of this grease is absorbed into food in fryers. For arguments sake lets say 25%. When the kitchens turn in their bottles of waste grease to he recycling center they get $17 or so back as an incentive for doing the right thing. The $3 goes towards the cost of recycling.
Please don’t get caught up in the numbers…they are just hypothetical figures.
I just remember when I was growing up we used to get 10 cents for every soda bottle we turned into Barritts or Metro. In the 80s that was a fair amount. Not everyone turned them in and some people still threw them in the trees, BUT the kids would find them , collect them and take them in for money.
In Ontario Canada, every case of beer has a built in $240 tax, which you get back when you turn in your empty case of beer. It helps cut down littering, helps with recycling and is a win, win for everyone.
I meant $2.40 tax..sorry
Ok, so how much do we pay every time we drop a load off in the toilet?
FYI – Stop pouring grease down the drain. Treat waste before dumping it in the ocean and extend the pipe further out so the current does not push it back into us. Seems simple. Tell the Mayor of Hamilton to stop suing government and fix the waste from Hamilton to help keep our beaches clean. That will get Team Hamilton elected again 2015.
I don’t think extending the pipe so that we don’t see the waste is a solution.
How about we stop thinking its ok to just dump raw sewage into the ocean?
uh…can we just hurry up and extend the sewage pipe X amount of FT/Miles/Km whatever
ADD PIPE, RESIZE YOUR PUMPS AND GET IT OVER WITH!
So its ok to dump raw sewage into the ocean? Just do it a lil’ further out?
Convert used grease to bio-fuel & it’s long over due that Bermuda have a proper bio-waste treatment facility rather then simply dumping it into the sea.
I went swimming at Grape Bay over the weekend. I’m still alive and saw no poop whatsoever. But let’s get the pipe extended for sewage, and proper grease disposal regulations in place asap already! at least announce plans of action for a solution come on! summers almost here!
Dear Bermy. You will have been fine swimming in the water over the weekend as their was a Westerly wind keeping sewage away from Grape Bay. Over the last 48 hours the wind was Easterley again which resulted in the deposit of more raw sewage. As it is now South Westerly you will again be safe. FOR NOW!
@Bermy .. Strong person you are . It’s just mind of matter isn’t it ? Fecal matter .
That’s not proper grease disposal. That’s just out of sight! Let fix the problem, not make it easier for people to waste instead of recycle.
What the hell is going on ? we can not swim in the ocean,and our tank water is not safe to drink !!!!!! what the hell next ? the air that we breath….I swim in the ocean and I drink the water from my tank…..and so far at the age of 67 I am in good health….enough already…..
Your tank water is not safe only if you don’t clean your roof, your tank and any trees around your property?!
But these are really doodoo balls
And in other news the PLP wants to do underwater mining. More grease balls! lol
Are those test kits they are using defective or are they telling porkies? And let’s call a “greaseball” what it really is – untreated sewage.
They washed up in Victoria Park yesterday lunchtime too.
The pubs in town seem to have found a way too keep up business during the days of summer.
As in, the grease comes from the pubs, and is keeping people off the beaches, which are their competitor for tourists attention
as if Bermuda hasn’t got nuff sh*** to deal with,here comes more!
I have to shake my head at some of the remarks posted here that are in reference to the “grease-balls” washing upon Grape Bay Beach area once again
If we’ve been experiencing this problem for countless years then how is it expected to be resolved in a matter of weeks? The One Bermuda Alliance are aware of the situation overlooked by not only the former U.B.P. but also, the former Progressive Labour Party Governments for 13 plus years… So please, you who find pleasure in being critical start from the beginning and cease blaming every damn thing on the current One Bermuda Alliance Government!
When are we going to stop talking and do something. All we do is talk, talk, talk.
There’s more dog poo on grape bay beach than grease balls! Why won’t that make the news?
I’m not convinced it is our doing…it could very well be the sludge that was put in the cave system….systemic from morgans point and naval facility in st.georges could be it is just findin it’s way to ocean through our vital cave infestructure….but gee…that wouldn’t have cause swimmers ear and been detrimental to a visitor indicating another likely scenario….and it couldn’t be a ships waste…because …of coarse of of that which is loaded on is accounted for at voyage end….is this assumtively correct?….Can this presumptive thought be proximitively near the truth that we all seak?
S*** floats. I have a grease trap at my house. I never flush cooking oil down my sink or toilet. My grease trap fills with grease and needs to be unblocked every few months. The grease is from everything that goes into the sink, dishwasher etc. Not necessarily cooking oil. So let’s stop pretending it’s about cooking oil and blaming restaurants. The problem is the s*** and a lot of s*** floats. If it comes out of a sewage pipe it’s likely to be greasy. BUILD A TREATMENT PLANT.
And where does it end up Pwndwg.
In your cess pit next to your water tank.
Have a rum.
Just to add to what @timemaytell said earlier in the thread.
Bio-Desil is the only way for us to solve this problem in Bermuda.
Only societies which can turn their waste into fuel will survive in the coming years.
Richard Brason Billionare owner of literally everything with Virgin in the title has pledged ten years of earnings (over 3 billion dollars) to support Bio-Desil research. He also pledged his full financial and moral support to Aruba last month, making them the first carribean country with a sustainable bio-desil programe, they’ll be off Oil by 2020.
All this talk of forgien investment by our bull**** government, wouldn’t a logical idea be to reach out to Mr. Branson and get an investment in our waste treatment facilities to make our Island Oil free as well?
Simple economics show that the greener countries economies are sky rocketing through the use of technology and science.
Want jobs Bermuda?
We can all have jobs in a green economy.
Odd ..how they only wash up there isn’t it…..
Is there any reason why restaurant oil, soy bean oil, cannot be burned at Tynes Bay with the power generated sold back to BELCO?
More then likely its the oil from the BP oil spill 4 years ago. They used the chemical corexit that makes the oil sink to sea floor now many places are being affected by the poor clean up effort done by BP Oil. http://www.primewire.ag/external.php?gd=1891800851&title=Vice&url=aHR0cDovL3NoYXJlc2l4LmNvbS9mL01nYlhEMg==&domain=c2hhcmVzaXguY29t&loggedin=0