The Daily Star - Sidon water treatment plant pumping sewage into sea - April 22, 2011

By Mohammed Zaatari

The Daily Star SIDON: Residents have discovered that Sidon’s new waste water treatment plant, which is designed to filter sewage water before pumping it to the sea, is pumping waste water into the sea untreated, a fact that was acknowledged by the city’s mayor. Passersby noticed that a side drainage pipe, stretching from the plant to the mouth of the Sinniq River, is emptying untreated sewage into the sea. Residents in the area are complaining of a foul smell pervading surrounding neighborhoods, especially in the industrial zone nearby, and told The Daily Star that the pipe had been pumping waste water for many hours during the day and night. Mohammad Darwish, who works in the city’s industrial zone, said that the pipe pumps sewage water for “more than six hours on a daily basis,” calling the matter an “environmental scandal.” “Who is responsible for deceiving the public?” he asked. The Council of Development and Reconstruction began operating the plant late last year after receiving a grant of $300,000 from the Japanese government. Eight drainage pipes carrying sewage water from Sidon and surrounding areas into the sea were gradually closed and waste water was sent instead to three pumps, which direct sewage water to the plant. The municipality finished its work Thursday to remove the largest of the city’s pipes that pump sewage water directly into the sea. But Sidon Mayor Mohammad Saudi acknowledged that a large amount of sewage water is being directed into the sea without any treatment. “This is because workers hired by the Council of Development and Reconstruction do not turn on the generators to operate the plant when the electricity is off,” he explained, stressing that this “should not happen.” “The municipality of Sidon has fulfilled its responsibility, and relieved Sidon’s beach of eight locations where sewage water was directed and used to pollute the sea,” he added. Officials from the Transportation and Public Works Ministry have washed their hands of the matter as well, holding the CDR responsible. Members of Sidon’s municipal council, who requested to remain anonymous, sought to justify the drainage pipe by saying that workers in the plant needed “to save diesel, which is used to turn on the electric generators to operate the plant when the electricity is off.” Abu Mahmoud Masri, who lives near the plant, dismissed the explanation. “What a lie! Sewage water is completely being directed to the sea whether the electricity is on or off … a real environmental catastrophe is back, after we believed that the sea pollution was over, and a foul smell and contaminated water are disrupting the lives of people in Sinniq,” he said. Some residents even doubted that the main 2-kilometer pipe from the plant was pumping filtered water. A scrap metal collector told The Daily Star that he had observed contaminated water near the pipe several times, concluding that “waste water was not filtered, but directed to the sea.”