Cleaning stepped up at Eastern Beach, Parliament told

The Department of the Environment has stepped up cleaning in parts of Eastern Beach over public concerns about the quality and cleanliness of the sand.

This was confirmed in Parliament this week by Environment Minister Dr John Cortes in response to questions from this Opposition shadow, Giovanni Origo.

“The Government is not satisfied with the current state of some specific sections of Eastern Beach,” Dr Cortes said.

“As a result, I have tasked the Department of the Environment with increasing cleaning efforts and in parallel investigating reports of excessive dust along some parts of the upper reaches of the beach.”

“These efforts include daily cleaning and raking, but both machine and by hand.”

Mr Origo asked whether the results of the investigation, which is looking at the different proportions of particles of different sizes, would be published to ensure the public was satisfied the beach is safe.

“Absolutely,” Dr Cortes replied.

“If I had the slightest suspicion that the beach wasn't safe, then we would be having a different conversation.”

“Any test results that we receive, it is absolutely certain that we'd be very happy to make them public.”

Dr Cortes said it was “impossible” to confirm the source of any dust particles on the beach, even if there was construction work nearby, adding that this problem had occurred in the past, for example during dredging work conducted while the GSD was in office.

“There are many different possible causes for this,” he said.

“It is very difficult to ascertain.”

“Perhaps when we have the results of the testing, we may be able to speculate, but at the moment, everything else would not just be hypothetical or speculative.”

Keith Azopardi, the Leader of the Opposition, said the people had raised concerns with the GSD about the cleanliness of the beach and skin reactions.

He urged the minister to reassure the public that everything possible was being done to address these concerns.

“We are cleaning every day, which is not usually done, just to ensure that this is done on an absolutely regular basis,” he said.

“In fact, Britannia has engaged additional staff in order to ensure that they are able to do it.”

“There has not been any indication that any reactions are due to contact with anything on the beach.”

“I dare say that if, as some people are saying, it's cement dust, our biggest ally is there's been so much rain this spring that any cement dust would have reacted and therefore would now be inert.”

“So I don't think that is a concern.”

“And in any case, we have checked with the GHA and with A&E and they have not seen any significant increase in ailments which in any way they suspect would be related to contact with material at Eastern Beach.”

“But in any case, the tests are being undertaken, and as soon as we have the results, which should be quite soon, we will obviously be willing to share them.”