Authorities make astonishing discovery during routine inspection of sewage treatment plant — here's what they found

A small Greek community is facing steep fines after discharging raw sewage into the ocean for weeks, according to Protothema.

What's happening?

South Aegean Regional Authority environmental inspectors were looking at sewage facilities in the municipality of Patmos, just off the west coast of Turkey. It appeared as if its sewage treatment had completely stopped, resulting in raw sewage going right out to sea. 

During a secondary inspection, local operators explained that the facility was below sea level, which allowed seawater to infiltrate the system. The high salinity of this water damaged membranes, resulting in treatment being shut down for a month-and-a-half. Relevant authorities weren't alerted to this issue and, worst of all, waste found its way into municipal water supplies. 

Wastewater management has been a chronic problem across Greece for years. 

Why is sewage treatment important?

There are clear health and safety risks with raw sewage going out to local shorelines, but that's not the only issue. 

Untreated sewage can also feed algae blooms. These eat up oxygen in the water, strangling out other local sea life in a process called eutrophication. Between eutrophication and bacterial contamination, raw sewage is a significant enough pollutant to affect fishing industries.

What's being done about the raw sewage dumping?

The municipality of Patmos faces national fines for failing to properly treat sewage, and the mayor, Nikitas Tsampalakis, has raised fees on residents to cover the cost of repairs. 

Greece overall faces ongoing legal action from the European Union to improve its sewage management. That said, the EU has also made investments in improving Greek infrastructure.

The mayor has remained defensive about the handling of the crisis. 

"After the development that [Athens Water Supply and Sewerage Company] brought to Patmos, we have entered the right base to properly handle such situations. We have done everything humanly possible," Tsampalakis said, per Ethnos (comments translated by Google).

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