In Sainte Anne, the river turned into a macabre scene after the discovery of countless dead fishes. Public health and environmental authorities have been called upon. This incident lead to the preventive closing of the Anse Gros Sable beach. But how did we get to this situation?
Defective backflow prevention within wastewater treatment plants, growing touristic pressure, drop in the water level due to a heat wave and strong swell on the previous days are among the multiple variables that could have caused this issue. Might this event be the perceptible part of a much more significant problem? What does the water and sanitation system look like in Guadeloupe? Water and fish analyses by the French environment and housing department (DEAL) are in progress.
Swimming and other watersports have been forbidden
Following this report, a local by-law was made on July 10th: swimming and other nautical activities are prohibited until further notice on Anse gros sable beach in Helleux. Right in the middle of summer, surf schools are forced to shut down and watersport users are left confused. As a matter of fact, the principle of precaution is applied until the analyses’ results are available, in order to further identify the issue. But temporary emergency measures should not become a systematic response to these types of pollution. Protecting the environment and the biodiversity represents the only real sustainable solution to guarantee healthy recreational and watersport activities on coastal waters. Further analyses realized by the French Office for Biodiversity (OFB) are currently under review, and are not public, as a judicial inquiry on the matter has been launched
Defective water treatment plant : breaking the law of silence?
The water treatment plant upstream from the contaminated zone was known to be flawed for several years (see map below). In August 2020, the city’s local council had already asked the ARS (the French Local Health Agency) to conduct some analyses in this swimming area, but this request has never been followed up. Subsequently, a report was addressed to the Intercommunal Union for Water Supply and Sanitation in Guadeloupe (SIAEAG) and the urban community called La Riviéra du Levant (CARL). As a result, a new request has just been sent again to the SIAEAG’s President, in order to implement appropriate measures related to this water treatment plant.
In January 2021, an online petition signed by 378 people, denounced this long lasting issue. The pumping station appeared to be outdated, inadequate to face the growing demographics in that area, and globally ineffective. The situation seems to be recurrent, so should we wait for the occurrence of new negative consequences before raising this issue in the public debate? Many civil society organizations, including Surfrider Foundation Europe, want things to evolve in the good direction. No more talking : we need some decisive action! Hence, a complaint was filed with the prosecutor.
The wastewater treatment process in Guadeloupe has become a widespread issue
The video of hundreds of dead fishes might have become viral online, but it is unfortunately not an isolated event, as many other spots face similar issues. On the island, Saint Anne’s station La French is directly impacted too. And private housing estates’ wastewater systems are a concern as well.
Let’s focus on general water treatment issues in Guadeloupe. When it comes to wastewater treatment plants conformity, we can see on the government’s map (cf. below) that a majority of them were not in compliance with the official requirements in 2019. Indeed, 60% of the stations did not conform to current standards: 26% were inadequate in terms of performance and 34% in terms of equipment. It appears that the main explanation is the overall lack of maintenance. Additionally, the lack of expertise at the early stages of the design and building of the water treatment plants might also explain their malfunctioning.
Source : http://assainissement.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/
Actions taken by Surfrider Foundation Europe
Surfrider Foundation Europe’s Guadeloupean chapter is well settled: volunteers work hand in hand with local actors and organize awareness-raising events, such as open air movie projections on the beach, debates, and Ocean Initiatives (beach clean-ups). As early as July 11th, the Guadeloupean chapter responded to this environmental disaster by organizing a beach clean-up and by setting up two workshops, in order to raise awareness on water quality and marine litter issues. The chapter will also request further bacterial analyses (as soon as the sanitary restrictions are lifted) on two beaches potentially impacted by human activities, downstream from a restaurant and from a housing project. Moreover, the Guadeloupean chapter is thinking of creating a Coastal Defenders collective. Coastal Defenders represent the local network of Surfrider Foundation Europe, which acts on the ground to protect our coasts.
