Dubai's "5-Star" Jumeirah Beach Awash In Sewage, TP - "Like Swimming In A Toilet" - G&M

[hatrack]

DUBAI — Dubai's Offshore Sailing Club is an island for wealthy expats. The pub serves Strongbow on tap, flashy boats named Wet Dream and Howzat bob in the harbour and big-name banks sponsor ritzy regattas on weekends.

But down by the docks, a noxious tide of toilet paper, raw sewage and chemical waste has turned the exclusive Jumeirah Beach - once a magnet for Westerners - into foul-smelling sludge. The pollution is bad enough to trigger typhoid and hepatitis in swimmers.

But the battle over who is to blame is even more toxic, pitting Dubai's wealthy expats against Emirati authorities, who have come under fire for failing to stop truckers from dumping human and industrial waste into the ocean. "It's a cesspool. Our tests show too many E. coli to count. It's like swimming in a toilet," said Keith Mutch, the sailing club's manager. Their battle also illustrates how Dubai's rapid development threatens to outpace the Emirates' ability to enforce environmental standards, angering the very foreigners this boomtown seeks to attract.

Meanwhile the beach, home to a string of five-star hotels, has been closed. The pollution skirts the man-made Palm Island, where celebrities including David Beckham and Simon Cowell own million-dollar villas. Mr. Mutch first detected trouble on a walk on the beach last summer. "The stench was unbearable, and the water was a muddy brown. There was toilet paper in the sand," he recalled.

EDIT

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090210.wsewage10/BNStory/International/home

[DJ13]

1. "Like Swimming In.........

........ Los Angeles"

[Manifestor_of_Light]

14. Like Swimming in.....

The Gulf of Mexico, off Galveston!!!

Not quite that bad, but pretty gross.

anybody who thinks Galveston has nice beaches has never seen a beautiful beach.

[crikkett]

2. Don't worry, Halliburton's right there to clean it up. n/t

[aquart]

3. I love this story. It's the essence of karma.

[Donnachaidh]

4. Simon Cowell and garbage - somehow that works so well

:rofl: :nopity: :rofl:

[DCKit]

6. Series1!!!111

Best illustration ever of "lie down with dogs...".

Oy, the schadenfreude is killing me.

[silverweb]

8. Exactly!

I started laughing and feeling schaudenfreud as soon as I saw the headline!

:rofl:

[formercia]

10. A good choice.



essence




3 a (1): a volatile substance or constituent (as of perfume)

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/essence

Essence of Karma

At your local retailer soon.

[DS1]

5. Simon Cowell should be used to it by now

The scumbag

[Old and In the Way]

7. Fascinating area on Google Earth.

I was checking it out the other night and it's quite amazing what Dubai has turned into. You'd think these filthy rich oil princes would invest in some 1st class pollution infrastructure to make it a relatively clean place to live.

[XemaSab]

9. To quote TheBorealAvenger

"It's where the affluent meet the effluent." :D

[loudsue]

11. Affluent meet the effluent! Perfect! Kellogg Brown & Root/Haliburton

may they all enjoy their stay in THEIR natural environment.

:rofl:

[AwakeAtLast]

12. Wait! I think a tear is starting to form in my eye

NOPE!!!

;)

[guruoo]

13. You can actually see the debris in Google maps sat images