TOURISM: Bermuda’s Beaches are Safe for Swimming Following the issuing of a “Security Message” for U.S. Citizens by the U.S. Consulate today entitled “Contaminated Beaches,” the Ministry of Health and Environment wishes to strongly reassure residents and visitors that our beaches are safe for swimming and recreational use. A Burden of Illness Study was conducted in 2011/12 with the aim of better understanding the cause of food and water borne infections which case diarrhea, otherwise known as gastroenteritis or ‘G.E’. The study ultimately found that people were not at risk of G.E. from swimming. Environmental Health closely monitors Bermuda’s beaches and takes water samples for bathing water quality twice each week at major bathing beaches and in the vicinity of the Hungry Bay sewage outfall at Hungry Bay and Grape Bay. The results of these samples continue to meet the US standards for acceptable bathing water quality. Measures have been put in place and other measures will continue to be investigated to ensure that our water remains fit for recreational use. ‘Greaseballs’ were last reported washed ashore in July (one incident) and before that in April and May when the island was experiencing a spate of Easterly winds and swells that brought grease onshore from the sewage outfall on at least two occasions. Greaseballs manifested as small (marble sized) balls of grey grease mixed with sand deposited at the high tide mark on Paget beaches. The Bermuda Government will notify the public if there is another situation of this nature in the future. Small-scale specific microbiology studies with research partners at the time of the events last April were added to the regular monitoring by the DOH of the sea bright outflow and adjacent beaches. These studies have particularly enhanced our understanding of the movements and character of sewage from the discharge and the very specific conditions that lead to these rare events (which resolved themselves very quickly). The Minister of Health and Environment the Hon. Trevor Moniz JP MP said: “Studies carried out last spring by the Department of Health along with BIOS (University of Laval mobile Atlantis Lab) speak to specific contamination events on a limited part of the South Shore that are short in duration, self resolving, limited in scope and driven by very specific weather circumstances (strong SSE winds and waves). “In addition, research has demonstrated that once these circumstances change the water quality completely corrects itself within hours. The Department of Health has set up an automatic weather notification system whereby they will receive an advisory when the particular wind and wave conditions that can put certain beaches at risk come together.” Environmental Health and the Corporation of Hamilton have met with restaurants and been engaged in a survey of grease traps at source. They have implemented an initiative which has both mechanical upgrades of grease traps and behaviour change components for the kitchens. Long term options for extending the outfall and for improved sewage treatment are being discussed. Items currently underway include the following: 1. Improvement of sewage waste handling at Tynes Bay Septage Facility – investment in new plant is being made; 2. Improved grease collection from City restaurants – CoH is working with restaurants; 3. Sewage treatment at KEMH will come online in 2014; 4. Twice weekly monitoring of bathing water quality is underway by DoH. The next step is to seek approval for a feasibility study for infrastructure improvements – that is, evaluating technology that was still in its early development (namely horizontal drilling) the last time that this was studied. The Department of Environmental Protection is monitoring the progress of the KEMH waste water treatment plant. This latter plant will effectively dilute the 500,000 imperial gallons per day from Hamilton with 100,000 IGPD of highly treated waste water if added to the outfall or will reduce the volume received at the outfall by 16%. The BLDC outfall about 1 km off Clearwater is currently discharging effluent treated to a primary level (i.e. septic tank) but is in the process of being upgraded to a Zenon tertiary plant. This is due to complete later this year. The situation has, however, greatly improved since the 1970s/80s when there were many other outfalls in Bermuda that have now all been eliminated or incorporated. Those would have been Elbow Beach , Sonesta Beach, Dockyard, Tynes Bay, the bases etc, and many smaller individual properties that now treat in-house and dont pump out to sea. Dockyard is a fully functional plant that treats very effectively and delivers treated effluent to a bore hole. It will soon be incorporating BOAZ island sewage. While we understand the US Consulate desires to protect its citizens we have to reiterate that bathing in Bermuda’s waters does not pose a health issue. Who commissioned the study and why? There was no formal study commissioned as such. This spring the Department of Health along with BIOS (University of Laval mobile Atlantis Lab) conducted some intensive water sampling of the South Shore beaches, following the appearance of “greaseballs” on some of the beaches. Weekly seawater sampling is routinely performed by the Department of Health at bathing beaches and other inshore sampling sights around Bermuda. The data suggests that water quality was degraded last April in the vicinity of Hungry Bay because tides, wind and swell combined to interrupt the otherwise satisfactory dilution at the outfall. This pollution event has not recurred since then in the wake of extensive sampling. What do these results mean? The BIOS results show elevated levels of e coli and enteroccoci in seawater samples during one week of sustained easterly wind and swell. However, as these events happened at peak times when beaches are crowded it was hard to tell whether this was due to the sewage outfall or to bather load. Additionally, the Department of Health samples did not show the same magnitude of levels even when taken concurrently. Work was taken to harmonize the sampling and analysis of the teams. Even though there was some uncertainty over the level of the initial results at the time, the conclusion drawn was that in Easterly winds and swell that bathing water in the vicinity of the sewage outfall near Hungry Bay and Grape Bay could be degraded. As a result of these findings the Department of Health had temporarily stepped up its water sampling to twice weekly and did not find the initial BIOS results to be repeatable. There was another incident of ‘greaseballs’ again in late May but water sampling taken within 24 hours of the event did not reveal any degradation of the bathing water quality. Since then meetings have been held between stakeholders on various technical aspects of the collection and disposal of sewage and grease in Bermuda. What previous water quality studies have been conducted and why was nobody aware of this before? It is important to note that a Burden of Illness Study was conducted in 2011/12 with the aim of better understanding the cause of food and water borne infections which case diarrhea, otherwise known as gastroenteritis or ‘G.E’. The BOI study was carried out by representatives from the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC) and the Department of Health and was made up of two components – a telephone survey and also a National Laboratory Survey. The study ultimately found that people were not at risk of G.E. from swimming. What is being done, during these specific weather conditions, to warn residents and tourists of the potential dangers? The Department of Health will have greaseballs safely removed from the shoreline as soon as they are reported. If members of the public spot greaseballs we ask that they contact Environmental Health at: 278.5333 Additional Info: The Department of Health follows the US EPA 2012 Recreational Water Quality Criteria for Marine Water, which are based on extensive scientific studies and projects. These recommend that culturable enterococci for marine bathing waters do not exceed a geometric mean of 35 colony forming units (cfu) per 100milliltres of water over a 30 day period. Also, a single value of 130 cfu enterococci /100ml should not be exceeded by more than 10% of the samples taken at that particular location. Enterococci are bacteria that are indicators of faecal pollution. The geometric mean is used because the distribution of faecal indicator bacteria (eg enterococci) in water is highly variable. The higher single value of 130cfu/100ml will take into account any occasional spikes in the water quality, allowing for these to be included in the water quality assessment. When these criteria are applied to the sampling results of the Department of Health at the major bathing beaches, including Hungry Bay and Grape Bay, the bathing waters have been of acceptable quality.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 22:19:38 +0000