NEWSLETTER JULY 2002

Our Opportunity to Lead the Way

Brian Conley on his recent TV show quipped, " We have Margate, where you don't need the sun to get brown and you just dive into the sea". Also a visitor once quipped, " I know Kent is the garden of England, and Thanet is the compost heap".

Over 700 waste discharge outfalls (along the rivers Thames and Medway) empty their faecal and chemical pollutants via our estuary out into the highly polluted North Sea. Because the estuary is tidal the toxic mass passes through to-and-fro only slowly.

Human activity destroys the global biosphere at a rate of 25% more than its regenerative capacity.*

If we fail at the current opportunity to get an all-weather sewage works built for our Margate/Broadstairs sewerage catchment, with sewage-stormwater holding tanks and chemical stripping units installed, then how can we take the plea for stringent anti-pollution measures to be taken by inland water companies and by regulatory planning authorities?

Space at Longnose Spit and Foreness Point is insufficient to accommodate such a modern safe sewage works, but five large alternative sites are available.

Publication of the reformed EC Bathing Water Directive 2002 (from 1976) expected in June, is now promised by the fU for August this year. It will introduce much more (2O-fold) stringent bathing water quality standards.

Support or join the FEA in its activities to safeguard and improve the quality of life in Thanet

Foreness Environmental Action

Secretariat: 34 Clarence Avenue, Margate CT9 3DR