Jumeirah waters turn oily orange

Blanketing an area the size of a half-dozen football fields, a large copper-orange glop flowed from a storm water drainage opening and slowly drifted eastward before breaking down in the water later in the day along the Jumeirah beachfront.

Municipal staff was dispatched to the scene of contamination and chemical samples were taken to identify the compounds contained in the oily muck.

Residents living along Jumeirah Beach have seen their fair share over the years of storm sewer discharges into Gulf waters along Dubai’s white sandy beaches as unscrupulous waste haulers have dumped all manner of liquid waste into storm drains rather than paying fees to dispose of the materials at properly licensed facilities.

However, the magnitude of yesterday’s mystery discharge was the largest ever seen in the area by some witnesses.

From: Gulf News