EFFLUENT from a beach-side sewerage works was too dirty to be pumped out to sea last month and had to be removed by tanker and treated.

It was revealed in the States yesterday that the safe levels of contamination in the clear-water waste that flows from the Bonne Nuit site had breached guidelines.

Answering a question from St John Deputy Phil Rondel, Senator Philip Ozouf, president of Environment and Public Services, said that waste was tankered away before a desludging exercise was undertaken.

He said that on 14 March a major desludging programme started after alarms at the site indicated that safety levels in the effluent overspill were not good enough for it to be pumped out to sea.

‘The effluent, which is in a form of clear water, was tankered away because of a reduction in the high-quality output from the plant,’ said Senator Ozouf.

‘But after the desludging exercise, water was once again allowed to flow into the sea from 24 March.’