Stinky water in Kuta Bali

Unfortunately this problem persists since last week. There was even an article in last weeks “The Bali Times”, speculating if it was from big fishing vessels. It’s the whole west coast of Bali currently.

The officials say it’s a natural phenomenom, like alge brought up from the sea bed through stormy weather. I don’t trust that judgement fully though, as 3-4 days ago I was swimming at Pantai Dhyana Pura and there were plenty of dead fish and even rests of old smelly fish in the water (like pieces of bait). Was burning on the skin too.

Not nice.

Hope things will improve soon again…until then - it’s east coast or pool!

The stinky blobs on the beach have been a problem for over a week. They appeared on the beaches all the way from Jimbaran to Canggu, just after the first big rain we’ve had in many months. I went to investigate the blobs closely, in person. It is my opinion that they are raw sewage, sewage sludge, from human waste that accumulated in the densely populated areas that run into Kuta Bay. Very, very large numbers of people live in this area, many of them without proper sanitation facilities (toilets, septic systems). This population includes many thousands of transient construction workers and other labourers without proper housing or facilities.

When the first rainfall big enough to shift the accumulated human waste occurred, vast amounts of sewage sludge (half decomposed semi-solid human waste), were swept into the bay. The action of the waves as they washed onto the beaches caused the sludge to form into sand-coated balls. (This effect is similar to what happens when you roll butter into flour, and it forms balls.) The balls of sewage sludge were then deposited by wind, waves and tide, up and down the entire length of Kuta area’s beaches.

Bali Discovery mentioned that samples had been taken to a lab for analysis to discover the composition of the “blobs”. No reports have been made public about the findings of the lab. Why not? This smells like a coverup to me, further confirming my suspicions that the material is, in fact, essentially human waste, partially decomposed excrement.

Bali Discovery also cited rumored “explanation” (prior to any scientific analysis), that the “blobs” could be either algae or sardinella (that’s Latin for SARDINES). Neither of these suggestions are plausible. That material is most certainly not algae, or sardines.

I think we need to find out what it really is, make that public, and allow the people of this area to respond appropriately to the real conditions, as they actually are. Awful though they may be, we cannot as a society, respond effectively to problems without knowing the truth.

Cheers,

Susi