John Culatto
THE cleaning of a pipe to increase its strength caused a sewage leak into Queensway Quay.
Gibraltar Government sources confirmed that works to fortify the main sewer forced rotten sewage to spill into the luxury marina.
It was the second time the putrid raw sewage had been reported within a week.
The Rock’s Main Sewer runs along Line Wall Road and Lover’s Lane, dating back to Victorian times.
In order to give it longer life, it is being reinforced with a Glass Reinforced Plastic (GRP) liner.
The aim is to make it stronger and allow it to increase flow of sewage.
Before the GRP is installed, the liner must be cleaned so it is free of dirt.
“In order to achieve this, the sewer is blocked at both ends and the sewage diverted through other pipes,” said the Gibraltar Government.
“This is achieved with large industrial pumps using the three black hoses which can currently be seen on the footpath along Lover’s Lane.”
The main way to prevent sewage overflowing onto the road via the manholes are connections to the storm drains.
These are normally blocked off during this process, but the high pressure forced one of these plugs to give way.
“The breach has now being resealed and all overflows reinforced to prevent this from re-occurring,” concluded the Government.
“We apologise for the inconvenience that this unfortunate incident has caused.”
Works on the Main Sewer will be finished at the beginning of next month.
John, what you need to ask is why, despite EU Regulations, Gibraltar does not have a Sewage Treatment Plant and is dumping sewage into the sea. If it had not been dumped in the Marina it would have been dumped into the sea elsewhere. Unfortunately the Marina is closest to the work being carried out which is why it was dumped their. The lack of infrastructure is even more serious as Gibraltar continues to approve large scale developments. The proposed massive 7 hectare Coaling Island Land Reclamation/Victoria Keys Development will add significantly to the problem. Gibraltar will soon be surrounded by a sea of sewage.