{"id":47,"date":"2008-04-22T08:24:41","date_gmt":"2008-04-22T03:24:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bluepeacemaldives.org\/blog\/?p=47"},"modified":"2024-08-27T13:21:34","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T08:21:34","slug":"sewage-around-male","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/pollution\/sewage-around-male","title":{"rendered":"SEWAGE AROUND MALE&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bluepeacemaldives.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/pipe1.jpg\" alt=\"pipe1.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<em> Fish enjoy sewage effluent, which is discharged in every \u00c2\u00bd hour interval  from a sewer outfall around Mal\u00c3\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n<p>When children and others swim and bath in the waters around Mal\u00c3\u00a9, especially in the artificial beach and swimming tract in Mal\u00c3\u00a9, they could not imagine how close they are to sewer outfalls and how much the water in which they swim is contaminated with faecal and chemicals from these untreated sewer outfalls.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bluepeacemaldives.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/swimming-tract.jpg\" alt=\"swimming-tract.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<em> School children getting ready to take swimming lessons in the Swimming Tract in Mal\u00c3\u00a9, near a sewer outfall.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>In past instances the swimming tract and artificial beach were closed for public for swimming and bathing due to complaints of higher sewer contamination.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.environment.gov.mv\/Docs2\/SoE\/MaldivesSoE2002.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">State of the Environment Report 2002<\/a>, sewage effluent,  potentially harmful substances and different chemicals are disposed untreated into coastal water of Male\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 from nine pump stations by means of six sewer outfalls around Male\u00e2\u20ac\u2122. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The pollution load from these sewer outfalls probably exceeds the dilution capacity of the receiving waters,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d State of the Environment Report 2002 said.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bluepeacemaldives.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/artificial-beach.jpg\" alt=\"artificial-beach.jpg\" \/><br \/>\n<em> Artificial Beach: One and Only Beach for 1\/3 of Population of Maldives Living in Mal\u00c3\u00a9<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Domestic sewage, industrial wastewater and clinical and lab waste water from photo and X-ray labs are discharged untreated from these six sewer outfalls into the sea and reefs around Mal\u00c3\u00a9.<\/p>\n<p>The results of the discharge of untreated sewage effluent, sediment stress from harbor dredging and reclamation has affected coral reef around Mal\u00c3\u00a9 and seriously degraded the reef compared to other islands. Except few resorts, sewage treatment is an alien business in the Maldives: most of the islands sewage effluent is disposed into ground by mean of septic tanks or untreated into sea.<\/p>\n<p>There is potential impact of the untreated wastewater on the health of people and the environment, and the fear of these chemicals getting into the food chain.<\/p>\n<p>The currents flowing around Mal\u00c3\u00a9 and across Atolls in the Maldives reverse with the change in season, during <em>Iruvaa<\/em> (North East Monsoon- December-April) current flows from the North, and during <em>Hulhagu<\/em> (South West Monsoon- April-December), it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the reverse. With change in season, the pattern of sewer contamination around Mal\u00c3\u00a9 also changes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bluepeacemaldives.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/pattern.swf\" title=\"pattern.swf\">pattern.swf<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Even in 2002 sewerage contamination from these outfalls exceeded the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dilution capacity of the receiving water\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.  Can you imagine the present level of sewage concentration around the coast of Mal\u00c3\u00a9 after 7 years?<\/p>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.tourism.gov.mv\/downloads\/unofficial-translation.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Regulation on Protection and Conservation of Environment in the Tourism Industry<\/a>, sewage from resorts, hotels and guesthouses have to be disposed in a manner that is least harmful to the environment. If this is the case, what is mindboggling is that this regulation is not enforced on hotels and guesthouses built in Mal\u00c3\u00a9.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.bluepeacemaldives.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/04\/pipe2.jpg\" alt=\"pipe2.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>If untreated sewage is not good for tourist resorts, why it good enough for more than 100,000 locals living in Mal\u00c3\u00a9 and those in other outer islands?<\/p>\n<p>Recently, the Constitution Assembly (People\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Special Majlis) has adopted the right to sewerage system as a fundamental human right. If untreated sewage is disposed into the sea and reefs, we wonder how many people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right to a safe and healthy environment is violated in the Maldives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fish enjoy sewage effluent, which is discharged in every \u00c2\u00bd hour interval from a sewer outfall around Mal\u00c3\u00a9 When children and others swim and bath in the waters around Mal\u00c3\u00a9, especially in the artificial beach and swimming tract in Mal\u00c3\u00a9, they could not imagine how close they are to sewer outfalls and how much the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pollution"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":433,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47\/revisions\/433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bluepeacemv.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}