Simply disgusting

There's been a recent wave of illegal dumping of raw sewage in storm water drains over the past few months, and this has now led to the closing of the Dubai Sailing Club due to water contamination.

Basically, sewage tank drivers have found a way to cut corners by dumping sewage in drains and other deserted areas, rather than going to the Al Aweer sewage treatment plant. Why? Because apparently they have to wait for up to 12 hours to dump their load at the treatment plant. And they get paid based on the number of loads they dump.

Little did they know that in doing so, they were causing serious environmental and potential health issues, with E-Coli and bacteria now floating around in the water and on our shores.

So who's to blame here? The drivers? Maybe a little bit, but then again, they're just trying to make a living and are probably oblivious to the fact that they are causing environmental damage.

Do we blame the companies that hire these drivers? Yes definitely. They should be blamed for not keeping a vigilant eye on how they run their business. And for not training their employees properly. Or, maybe they DO know what's happening but decide to turn a blind eye, simply because they only care about how much money they make at the end of the day.

Do we blame Dubai Municipality? For sure! With everything in Dubai growing at breakneck speed, no one thought that we would need more than one sewage treatment plant to handle the load of treating the sewage of an ever-expanding city that gets hundreds of new residents every day. Not only that, it seems that they are not doing a thorough job of warning residents not to swim in contaminated waters, with most beach-goers oblivious to the fact that there's been an illegal sewage dumping issue.

Do we blame Dubai Police? Yes, them too. Although they claim to be dealing with the situation by going after these trucks and fining them, there's also been reports of them being very slow in reacting to calls from residents who have spotted these trucks doing their illegal dumping.

All this to say that while we are all willing to put up with the growing pains of Dubai, I, for one, am not willing to accept cutting-corner tactics that may potentially damage my health and harm the environment. It's simply disgusting, and it's simply unacceptable.

CNN's most viewed story today?

This one!

The Michelle & Vince after-shocks have begun!

Not sure if this is newsworthy enough to have it be on CNN, but I guess that:
a) It's a slow newsday for the CNN team
b) Any mention of Dubai these days will generate interest...

Leave our islands alone!

We've been going to the Abu Dhabi islands for as long as I can remember. Every since we were very young, we've been going to Bahrani island (or to Peanut Island, or some other small island around Abu Dhabi) to spend a day or fun in the sun, or for an overnight camping trip.

This weekend we spent an afternoon on Bahrani, but on the way there, I noticed that many islands had a "no trespassing allowed" sign on them...While others were littered with construction machinery. Some islands already have some private resorts built on them.

Is this going to be the trend from now on? Will there be no more islands for us to go to? Will the real estate sharks destroy the natural beauty of our islands?

I hope not! A day on one of these islands is simply breathtaking...The wind, the sun, the perfect white sands and beautiful blue beaches are simply priceless. I still want to be able to spend a fun day on our islands 5, 10 or 15 years from now.

Save our islands!