 What is sewage? |
Sewage is any waste water or material that is disposed of through sewers. The majority of waste water and sewage is created by kitchen sinks, bathtubs, showers and toilets, although commercial businesses also produce sewage in the form of liquid waste. Sewage has a nauseating odor, and contains contaminants like raw materials and chemicals that can create biologically harmful and dangerous fumes.
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| What is a sewage spill? |
A sewage spill is a discharge of raw (untreated) sewage from the sewer system. Spills are often caused by blockages or ruptures in the sewer lines caused by construction activities. They can also be caused by illegal connections to the storm water lines and from trucks dumping sewage into manholes.
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| Why are sewage spills a problem? What health risks does a sewage spill present? |
Sewage spills pose a substantial health and environmental challenge. Raw (untreated) sewage can carry bacteria, viruses, protozoa (parasitic organisms), helminths (intestinal worms), and borroughs (inhaled molds and fungi). Epidemiological studies have linked a number of adverse health outcomes, including gastrointestinal and respiratory infections, with exposure to raw sewage in recreational water (WHO, 2003).
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| How can I be exposed to these risks? |
One can be exposed to these risks through exposure to polluted marine waters at recreational beaches and eating fish from areas contaminated by raw sewage. Some cases of disease contracted through inhalation and skin absorption have also been documented.
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| Can I eat fish collected from water contaminated with sewage? |
It would be wise to not consume the fish, and especially shellfish, known to be harvested from an area that has experienced a sewage spill. There are methods to try to eliminate the potential human pathogens (cooking, pasteurization, retorting), but there is no guarantee that cooking will eliminate the hazards of natural toxins or chemical contamination that also may be associated with the fish or shellfish.
Sewage often contains toxic chemicals from industrial dischargers as well as bioactive chemicals from personal care products, pharmaceuticals, and other chemicals, and that some of these chemicals can accumulate in fish.
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| What other damage can sewage spills cause? |
In addition to serious human health consequences, sewage spills can also damage the environment. A key concern with sewage spills that enter sea, ocean or brackish water is their effect on water quality. When bodies of water cannot be used for drinking water, fishing, or recreation, society experiences an economic loss. Fishing, jet-skiing and swimming may be restricted and or beaches can be closed.
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| How can sewage spills be reduced or eliminated? |
Many avoidable sewage spills are caused by inadequate or negligent operation or maintenance, inadequate system capacity, and improper system design and construction. They can be reduced or eliminated by:
• Sewer system cleaning and maintenance
• Reducing infiltration and inflow through system rehabilitation and repairing broken or leaking service lines
• Enlarging or upgrading sewer or sewage treatment plant capacity and/or reliability
• Addressing sewage spills during sewer system master planning and facilities planning, or while extending the sewer system into areas with no previous sewer system
• Eliminating illegal sewage dumping by trucks into storm water systems by policing via truck-tracking system
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| What is the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi’s role during a sewage spill? |
Any sewage spill will provoke an emergency response from the Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) provided it is reported. Once notified, EAD will take the lead in establishing the impacts and threats to the environment, which for this scenario includes public health. The incident potential assessment will include; direct observation, sample analysis, and increased monitoring. For high potential incidents, EAD will form a response partnership with the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD) to manage the emergency. In major situations, EAD and HAAD will approach the National Crisis Emergency Management Authority (NCEMA) for direction and support.
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| What is the Health Authority – Abu Dhabi’s role during a sewage spill? |
The Health Authority-Abu Dhabi (HAAD) in collaboration with the Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi (EAD) will monitor the marine water quality of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Where levels of public health-related parameters are found to exceed the set threshold limit values for those parameters, HAAD in collaboration with EAD and the Department for Municipal Affairs will issue a recommendation for the affected marine areas to be closed to public access, restricting all recreational activities associated with that marine area. HAAD will attend all the related management meetings and provide public health-related advice and guidance on the issue at hand. Once it has been established, supported by concrete evidence, that the area does not pose any danger to the public health, HAAD will provide a recommendation to release the affected marine area and restore public access.
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| I am a member of the media. Who can I contact for more information? |
Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi (EAD)
Press Office
E-mail: pressoffice@ead.ae
Mobile: 050-442-5096
Or
Health Authority – Abu Dhabi (HAAD)
Corporate Communications
Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Kaabi
E-mail: jkaabi@haad.ae
Tel: +971 2 419 3314
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