Raw sewage dumping drivers face deportation

TRUCK QUEUE: Lorries have to queue for hours to use the only treatment plant in Dubai. (Getty Images)

A new warning has gone out to rogue lorry drivers who get caught dumping raw sewage into the sea or storm drains in Dubai.

Municipality chiefs are determined to stamp out the risk of further pollution to the emirate's coastline and have now said that repeat offenders could be deported.

Hussain Nasser Lootah, acting director general of the municipality, said the decision was part of its effort to stop drivers dumping sewage to avoid queues of between 12 and 16 hours at the city’s only sewage treatment plant, located in Al Aweer, UAE daily The National reported on Wednesday.

“If the driver is found repeating the offence for a second time, we will be compelled to ask the company to deport the driver from the city of Dubai,” Lootah told the paper.

The fine for illegal dumping has already been doubled from 50,000 dirhams ($13,600) to 100,000 dirhams, but the measure has failed to stop the practice.

Lootah said municipal inspectors had impounded more than 75 tankers caught dumping sewage illegally since the practice began to receive widespread publicity over the past couple of months.

The crackdown continues after illegally dumped sewage forced the closure of a public beach and fouled the waters of a Dubai sailing club.

The Dubai Offshore Sailing Club in Jumeirah was flooded with sewage that washed up around it and fouled its yacht basin in September, making it impossible to continue sailing lessons in its harbour.

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