Sewage treatment plant Laxey

[woolley]

15 hours ago, Roger Mexico said:

Wiki has an interesting article .  It's nominally about the associated MER stop/station, which at one time had buildings etc, and it says that the last operational season as a tourist attraction was 1965. But the owner did sometimes have open days, presumably for charity, those those have ceased.

I can give you first hand better information. It certainly didn't close in 1965 because I was taken there a couple of times as an infant on holiday in 1966 when the Island first sank its claws into me. Garwick was magical to me as a little townie, and I vividly remember the paths alongside the noisily rushing stream down to the "smugglers' cave" and the beach, and having a bottle of pop outside the hotel. It was late season, end of August, and I remember how spooky it felt standing there at the MER halt waiting for the tram in the pitch dark. You could hear the silence. I had only experienced places with street lighting at the time. My Dad, fit and well then but dead just 5 years later, signalled our presence to the "electric car" driver with his cigarette lighter. I loved the trams. We had hoped to travel to the Island on the side loader Ben my Chree because she was brand new that year, but we were unlucky. In the event we arrived on the Lady of Mann of 1931, which in retrospect was a privilege, and returned on the post-war King Orry. Life is strange. Had it not been for that holiday I probably wouldn't be sitting where I am so many years later.

I returned as a teenager in 1976 eager to retrace my steps, but at the same MER halt we found the sign "Garwick Glen closed to the public." and a map of the route to walk down to the beach. Shock. Horror. I was like the kid in The Snowman the following morning holding the scarf.

The openings  latterly were for charity, and I was aware of them in the 1980s and 1990s, and possibly the early 2000s. Nothing recent though, and I never did go back. Sometimes when I take the right hand bend at the bottom of Baldrine going north, I look at the entrance to the property, and the long overgrown and barely discernible access to the MER on the other side of the road, and I picture my bright eyed tiny self crossing the road from tram to glen with loved ones long since lost. I'm sure others will have similar memories of the place.

Edited April 15, 2023 by woolley

[Zarley]

14 minutes ago, woolley said:

I can give you first hand better information. It certainly didn't close in 1965 because I was taken there a couple of times as an infant on holiday in 1966 when the Island first sank its claws into me. Garwick was magical to me as a little townie, and I vividly remember the paths alongside the noisily rushing stream down to the "smugglers' cave" and the beach, and having a bottle of pop outside the hotel. It was late season, end of August, and I remember how spooky it felt standing there at the MER halt waiting for the tram in the pitch dark. You could hear the silence. I had only experienced places with street lighting at the time. My Dad, fit and well then but dead just 5 years later, signalled our presence to the "electric car" driver with his cigarette lighter. I loved the trams. We had hoped to travel to the Island on the side loader Ben my Chree because she was brand new that year, but we were unlucky. In the event we arrived on the Lady of Mann of 1931, which in retrospect was a privilege, and returned on the post-war King Orry. Life is strange. Had it not been for that holiday I probably wouldn't be sitting where I am so many years later.

I returned as a teenager in 1976 eager to retrace my steps, but at the same MER halt we found the sign "Garwick Glen closed to the public." and a map of the route to walk down to the beach. Shock. Horror. I was like the kid in The Snowman the following morning holding the scarf.

The openings  latterly were for charity, and I was aware of them in the 1980s and 1990s, and possibly the early 2000s. Nothing recent though, and I never did go back. Sometimes when I take the right hand bend at the bottom of Baldrine going north, I look at the entrance to the property, and the long overgrown and barely discernible access to the MER on the other side of the road, and I picture myself bright eyed tiny self crossing the road from tram to glen with loved ones long since lost. I'm sure others will have similar memories of the place.

Lovely post Woolley. Last paragraph brought a wee tear to my eye. 

[woolley]

16 hours ago, Non-Believer said:

I don't know how many feet above lower Laxey Axenfell actually is but I certainly wouldn't want to push a wheelbarrow filled with MUA salaries up there....it must be nearly a third of the way to Creg-ny- Baa?

Approx 550ft.

[woolley]

1 hour ago, Happier diner said:

Wasn't the original plan to have 2 separate sewage works. One at Laxey and one at Gatwick. I imagine the land in garwick was bought for the latter. 

That's right. The Garwick outfall still needs attending to, so the plan is to pipe from there to Axnfell, so that's 2 pipelines climbing up to the plantation. I suppose that whatever parts of the Garwick property is surplus for works needs will be resold on the open market. In better times when we were drowning in money they might have restored it as a national glen.

The more I think about this harebrained scheme, the more convinced I am that they have no intention of actually doing it. They're really not THAT bat shit crazy. Are they?

[CallMeCurious]

10 hours ago, woolley said:

The more I think about this harebrained scheme, the more convinced I am that they have no intention of actually doing it. They're really not THAT bat shit crazy. Are they?

I think that is one of the DoI/MUA critical criteria for the business case proposal.

✅ Does the project meet the BSC (Bat Shit Crazy) 2020 compliance criteria?

✅ Does the project include a gold plated turd polishing machine to the same specification as the Cabinet Office use?

✅ Is the budget at most 50% of a realsitic cost even after factoring in the usual Manx construction markup?

✅ Have the results of the public consultation been printed, perforated and rolled onto a carboard tube ready for use in the  staff welfare facility?

[The Phantom]

Disappointing but kind of understandable considering the literal shit show going on in with the Water Companies in the UK at the moment. 

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/promise-of-clean-water-by-summer-2026-as-sewage-works-delayed/

At least when Peel and Laxey get done, the Isle will be able to claim it is significantly better than the UK.  Good for the 'Biosphere' and the sudden curious rise of cold water dipping/swimming. 

[woolley]

1 hour ago, The Phantom said:

Disappointing but kind of understandable considering the literal shit show going on in with the Water Companies in the UK at the moment. 

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/promise-of-clean-water-by-summer-2026-as-sewage-works-delayed/

At least when Peel and Laxey get done, the Isle will be able to claim it is significantly better than the UK.  Good for the 'Biosphere' and the sudden curious rise of cold water dipping/swimming. 

Peel, definitely. Laxey, unnecessary. Cost to benefit way out of line.

[The Phantom]

1 hour ago, woolley said:

Peel, definitely. Laxey, unnecessary. Cost to benefit way out of line.

Realistically I'd agree with you.  99% of the time the water quality in Laxey is fine and I've never get sick from the water there.  Peel I have several times and won't go in the water anymore. 

It would be a bit shit though to leave Laxey with the ignominious position of being the only untreated sewage beach on the Island. 

[Dave Hedgehog]

2 minutes ago, The Phantom said:

Realistically I'd agree with you.  99% of the time the water quality in Laxey is fine and I've never get sick from the water there.  Peel I have several times and won't go in the water anymore. 

It would be a bit shit though to leave Laxey with the ignominious position of being the only untreated sewage beach on the Island. 

It could be renamed Cacksey and marketed on the nutritional benefits of turdy seawater.

[The Phantom]

10 minutes ago, Dave Hedgehog said:

It could be renamed Cacksey and marketed on the nutritional benefits of turdy seawater.

Lax(ative)Sea? 

[GD4ELI]

1 hour ago, woolley said:

Peel, definitely. Laxey, unnecessary. Cost to benefit way out of line.

Similar issues down here in Port Navas. They store during the day, pump at night when electricity is cheaper. Works well.

TR11 5LR - Google Maps

[TheTeapot]

2 hours ago, The Phantom said:

Disappointing but kind of understandable considering the literal shit show going on in with the Water Companies in the UK at the moment. 

https://www.manxradio.com/news/isle-of-man-news/promise-of-clean-water-by-summer-2026-as-sewage-works-delayed/

At least when Peel and Laxey get done, the Isle will be able to claim it is significantly better than the UK.  Good for the 'Biosphere' and the sudden curious rise of cold water dipping/swimming. 

One thing I've wondered is about the effect of all that 'food' entering the sea. I've asked a couple of people in the past but never really bothered following up. Bringing IRIS in and stopping much of the islands waste entering the sea must have had an effect on sea life, that will have been a lot of nutrients.

[GD4ELI]

3 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

One thing I've wondered is about the effect of all that 'food' entering the sea. I've asked a couple of people in the past but never really bothered following up. Bringing IRIS in and stopping much of the islands waste entering the sea must have had an effect on sea life, that will have been a lot of nutrients.

Lots of work now studying the effect of contraceptives being discharged, also unused medcation flushed into the sea.

One study: Contraceptive pill residues in sewage effluent are estrogenic to fish | Request PDF (researchgate.net)

Much more info online.

[TheTeapot]

1 minute ago, GD4ELI said:

Lots of work now studying the effect of contraceptives being discharged, also unused medcation flushed into the sea.

One study: Contraceptive pill residues in sewage effluent are estrogenic to fish | Request PDF (researchgate.net)

Much more info online.

Oh to be clear pumping our waste into the sea is very much a bad thing, people put all kinds of weird stuff down the bog, its good we here on the Island stopped the majority of it going straight out there. I just wondered if there were any consequences from it stopping, other than the obvious good one.

[The Phantom]

9 minutes ago, TheTeapot said:

One thing I've wondered is about the effect of all that 'food' entering the sea. I've asked a couple of people in the past but never really bothered following up. Bringing IRIS in and stopping much of the islands waste entering the sea must have had an effect on sea life, that will have been a lot of nutrients.

Grimly unsurprising that I don't think anyone has done a study into what % of fish's diet is shit!  It would only be a few limited species however.  Increased regulation of fishing would more than likely make up for any loss in our second hand food.  Just look at the Herring fishery now back from being dead for 30 (or more) years.  Likely also the reason for increased dolphin /whale activity here.  Where the basking sharks have gone however is a bit of a mystery.