Worthing Beach reopens after Beryl

orthing Beach in Christ Church has officially reopened following a two-week closure prompted by damage from Hurricane Beryl’s storm surges, Minister for Infrastructure Dr William Duguid has announced.

As the popular beach on the island’s busy southern tourism corridor reopens, Dr Duguid told reporters at a press conference held at the beach about the efforts to repair a ruptured outfall line from the sewage treatment plant at Graeme Hall and ensure water quality in the area.

“Right after the passage of Hurricane Beryl, we had a rupture of one of the two lines that we have here that go to the outfall here at Worthing. That was the eight-inch line that was ruptured.”

The minister explained that whilst the 12-inch line remained intact, it required reinstallation of weights. “We immediately switched over to the 12-inch line,” he said, ensuring continued functionality during repairs.

Dr Duguid highlighted the extensive repair process, which involved anchoring the ruptured eight-inch line to the seabed approximately 340 metres offshore.

“We had the beach tested to make sure that it was totally within international standards, and it was. But out of abundance of caution, we closed the beach, and then we started investigations to look to repair it,” he said.

Robert Bynoe, a civil engineer from Stantec Consulting, emphasised the challenging nature of the repair work: “We started work on the 6th of July, and we finished [Thursday]. It was quite a bit of work. And kudos to the divers. They are out there in very rough conditions, and the water out there is shallow. So it [the waves] throws them around a lot.”

Dr Duguid also addressed rumours of sewage spills. “What people often mistake for sewage is when we open the sluice gate,” he explained. “When it is open, sometimes you get tannins, which are the stuff from the trees, and so on. And people think that is what that is, but that was not that. That was tannins when we opened the sluice gate.”

Area businesses were dealt a heavy blow by the beach closure. Sheena Lambert, who manages the Seafood Shack, detailed the challenges faced: “The closure of the beach was not good for us

. . . I tried to get some lighting on the back end of the car park because it’s very dark down here. So a lot of people coming to the car park, which was closed, thought that we were closed for business. But we found other alternatives, obviously. We tried to put some lighting up for the nighttime visitors, which is the majority of our customers, but that wasn’t successful.

“I did not close. because we provide a major service, so we had to keep it open. I put some signs up saying we are open. I tried using social media a lot more. This was in addition to renting portable lights. We tried to make the area still look as lively as we could, especially at night, because that’s when most people come out. It wasn’t a major loss, but it was still detrimental to the business.”

Lambert continued: “The hardest part of dealing with it was the delivery trucks having access to us. The actual delivery drivers, the people that are delivering the food, had issues coming across the beach to us. Because obviously, you know, the other part is very dark.”

Acknowledging ongoing issues in the area, Dr Duguid addressed the frequent flooding and high water table: “We can’t just drill a few wells because the wells themselves are going to be low. What we try to do is mitigate so that the runoff gets back to the sluice gate and take the water away from the area as quickly as possible. This has been the solution in the past.”

The senior minister also discussed plans for a permanent solution to the outfall system.

“This is something that we’ve been working on consistently to be able to get a permanent outfall. Now, as you’re aware, there is a permanent outfall already at Needham’s Point,” he said. He revealed that plans for an alternate route to the permanent outfall are in the final stages of approval.

Regarding the upgraded South Coast sewage project, Dr Duguid acknowledged its complexity: “That is not a simple project, as you would appreciate. And the committee that is working on that has been meeting for quite some time. I am the minister who chairs that now, and we’re making significant progress. It is going through the funding process.”