Douglas stinky beach

[Capt_Mainwaring]

10 minutes ago, Lilly said:

 

I suppose it depends on how seriously you understand the impression the state of the beach is having on your local rate payers/Tourist.  Comments are starting to be voiced, one is why Port Erin/Peel beaches look to be much cleaner.  Maybe they are managed differently?  Or maybe it's just natural!  It's pretty bad at the moment, l suppose ignoring it could be a solution. 

There have been several days where we've had fresh/strong east or north east winds. Its unusual, as the prevailing wind here is W or SW. In those cases, it's an offshore in Douglas so it doesn't really affect the beach. However lately with the E/NE and to some extent SE, a lot has been deposited on the beach/promenade. Conversely, Port Erin and PSM won't be affected.

[Jarndyce]

3 minutes ago, Capt_Mainwaring said:

There have been several days where we've had fresh/strong east or north east winds. Its unusual, as the prevailing wind here is W or SW. In those cases, it's an offshore in Douglas so it doesn't really affect the beach. However lately with the E/NE and to some extent SE, a lot has been deposited on the beach/promenade. Conversely, Port Erin and PSM won't be affected.

I blame DBC - you’d think they’d have better control over wind direction, what do we pay our rates for, etc…

[The Phantom]

11 minutes ago, Capt_Mainwaring said:

There have been several days where we've had fresh/strong east or north east winds. Its unusual, as the prevailing wind here is W or SW. In those cases, it's an offshore in Douglas so it doesn't really affect the beach. However lately with the E/NE and to some extent SE, a lot has been deposited on the beach/promenade. Conversely, Port Erin and PSM won't be affected.

@Lilly

What the Capt says!  Also just like on land, it's autumn now, the seaweed has spent all summer growing and now the storms (Easterlies) are tearing it all up and bringing it in. 

[Lilly]

10 minutes ago, Capt_Mainwaring said:

There have been several days where we've had fresh/strong east or north east winds. Its unusual, as the prevailing wind here is W or SW. In those cases, it's an offshore in Douglas so it doesn't really affect the beach. However lately with the E/NE and to some extent SE, a lot has been deposited on the beach/promenade. Conversely, Port Erin and PSM won't be affected.

Well, that's a valid point.   It's a shame we can't find another use for the excess seaweed. I guess the argument will be it contains plastic so unusable 

[The Phantom]

6 minutes ago, Lilly said:

Well, that's a valid point.   It's a shame we can't find another use for the excess seaweed. I guess the argument will be it contains plastic so unusable 

This is considered every year around this time.  Seems that it needs washing and numerous other treatments before it can be spread around on crops etc.  It's cheaper and easier just to buy fertilizer although the Ukraine war has cranked up costs for nitrate fertilizer significantly. 

[Andy Onchan]

1 minute ago, Lilly said:

Well, that's a valid point.   It's a shame we can't find another use for the excess seaweed. I guess the argument will be it contains plastic so unusable 

It's perfectly useable, I gather it up this time of year to put on my veg plots. No need to wash it. Find somewhere where you can dry it and chop it up (I put it through my second hand garden shredder) and then leave it on top of the beds and cover it with cardboard and let nature take it's course.

[Lilly]

Just now, Andy Onchan said:

It's perfectly useable, I gather it up this time of year to put on my veg plots. No need to wash it. Find somewhere where you can dry it and chop it up (I put it through my second hand garden shredder) and then leave it on top of the beds and cover it with cardboard and let nature take it's course.

Yes, l totally agree. I often dry it on my washing line usually in the summer, whendry l use my kitchen sapper/grinder turns it into a gritty power then l add water to it as needed.

[WTF]

the cheapest option for the seaweed is to just remove it so you aren't moving the stuff every day.  the downside then of course is there is no plant life feasting on the shit that gets pumped into the bay and the historic excuse/lies for the smell won't be there.  the real answer is to sort the sewer system and remove the seaweed but that won't happen.

Edited 7 hours ago by WTF

[The Phantom]

11 minutes ago, WTF said:

 feasting on the shit that gets pumped into the bay and the historic excuse/lies for the smell won't be there.  the real answer is to sort the sewer system and remove the seaweed but that won't happen.

The vast majority of the time, there is no raw sewage going into Douglas bay.  It's fully treated by IRIS. Only on very heavy rains, flooding etc when the system gets overloaded is there any untreated outflows.  Some animal waste does enter the rivers outflowing into the bay too, but not much you can do about that short of banning animals from fields. 

There is however discharge of Whey from the Dairy.  Nothing to suggest this is harmful.  In fact, it's possibly beneficial to the ecosystem.

Considering the sewage status of many beaches in the UK, IRIS is one of the few things by Govt that has been done right and is effective.  Although admittedly it was 10+ years ago.  Our beaches and water quality are far better than the majority in the UK. 

Only Laxey and Peel continually dump untreated sewage and this is in the process of being sorted out now.  Unless NIMBYs stop it. 

Edited 7 hours ago by The Phantom

[WTF]

1 hour ago, The Phantom said:

 there is no raw sewage going into Douglas bay.  It's fully treated by IRIS. Only on very heavy rains, flooding etc when the system gets overloaded is there any untreated outflows

over 5 years ago when i spent a lot of time staying in a flat on queens prom i would walk or ride the prom most nights in the height of summer so not heavy rains or floods season and on numerous occasions in amongst the seaweed it looked like someone had thrown away a 3D jigsaw of ben grimm 

Edited 5 hours ago by WTF