The Suez Gulf is polluted with untreated liquid industrial waste dumped by factories in the Adabeyya area, said eye witnesses to Al-Masry Al-Youm reporters.
The industrial drainage station discharges untreated waste directly into the gulf, causing the hazardous chemical waste to build up in the water, killing fish and contaminating the water.
The situation requires the intervention of officials to ensure the waste is treated before being dumped into the water, experts have said.
Adel Amer, a professor of marine sciences in Suez, said that the Ministry of Population has built a station for treating liquid industrial waste, the first stage of which cost LE83 million. The station is able to treat 3000 cubic meters of liquid and solid industrial waste in Adabeyya.
The station was supposed to treat industrial waste after it had been first treated inside the factories and then be disposed of in the sea via underground pipes that extend 500 meters into the water.
However, according to Amer, the waste is being dumped onto the shore.
Amer added that liquid industrial waste contain high concentrations of microbes, nitrates, phosphates and heavy metals and is channeled into the Suez Gulf via a canal originally used to drain off rainfall.
According to Amer, this waste can cause tumors, mental retardation and fetal malformations in the long term.
The contaminated water is carried by the current towards a popular beach, threatening the lives of swimmers.
Gamea Abdel Rahman, a resident in the area, said the industrial waste has poisoned the fish and other marine life, adding that the spot is ideal for fish reproduction because of its warm waters.
An official source from the Gulf of Suez Development Authority said the treatment station is under the authority of the Holding Company for Water and Wastewater. The latter, the source said, has entrusted a company named Aquatreat with the maintenance of industrial waste treatment stations and is therefore to blame for the current crisis.
Laila al-Khouli, a senior environment official in Suez, said the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency has filed a report against the treatment station and the matter will soon be referred to court to determine the compensation for the resulting environmental damage.
Translated from the Arabic Edition.
