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Now, ‘Industrial’ Waste Threatens Dubai Offshore Sailing Club

DUBAI - Almost three months after the Dubai Offshore Sailing Club (DOSC) was forced to suspend all operations due to the storm water drains sewage problem, the club is now facing another hazard — industrial waste — according to an official.

A senior official of the club said though the sewage flow had stopped, they were now dealing with what they believe was industrial waste coming into the beach area from the same storm water drains.

The official said that they had contacted the civic body which talked about the ongoing investigations, but things are yet to materialise.

DOSC authorities said though they wanted to clean up the waters, it was of no use as the flow of the waste was continuous.

“We can hire someone and clean up the area and the water. This will take in a lot of resources and finances. But then the flow is continuous. So unless, this new problem is not taken care of completely, our resources will go waste,” the official said.

“We believe these are industrial wastes coming in from the Al Quoz Industrial area through the storm water drains. This has been going on for almost a month on a very regular basis.

“Under such a situation, the beach cannot be opened. The Dubai Municipality has intimated about the same and they have assured us of proper investigations,” he said.

Mohammed Abdul Rahman Hasan, the Head of Marine Environment and Sanctuaries Unit at the DM said, “We are not sure of the fact that it is industrial waste. It could be rain water as well, The DM is presently looking into the matter and there will a proper investigation into this,” he said.

The DOSC as well as a small public beach located near it, were closed down in September last year following the continuous flow of sewage, which came in from the storm water drains.

Many tankers, which have been hired to collect and dump sewage from the labour accommodations, used to secretly dump the sewage in the open and into these drains in order to escape the long wait at the far away Al Awir Sewage Treatment Plant.

The civic body recently organised a crackdown on the ‘erring tankers’ and transport companies.

The fine for illegal dumping was increased from Dh50, 000 to Dh100,000 .

The DM had also proposed deportation for drivers involved in the practice in addition to a cash reward of Dh2,000 for people who provide information about any tankers dumping sewage illegally.

joy@khaleejtimes.com