Pollution of Air and Water –The Lock down has shown us how clean our environment can be!

In beautiful West Wales there should surely not be areas of severe air and water pollution. Unfortunately Carmarthenshire has there problems, mainly in the Llanelli Area. They have been present for years, they break European and UK pollution rules but they have not ever been dealt with.

Even the £96million “Rain scape” Welsh Water project, a project to stop the raw sewage currently overflowing and flooding from an overloaded Llanelli Sewage system, has not yet been completed.

It depends on the new drainage system working and no more new houses being built to cause more sewage overflow. The result of the Welsh Water engineering and pumping system is unknown and may take months to make a difference when it is finished, but hundreds of new homes have been given planning permission, many have been built, so it is likely the pollution is worse and perhaps this is the reason that the scheme is running  several years late?

The North dock beach has been heavily contaminated by Sewage bacteria for years. In response the County County stopped testing it. This very small warning notice at the top of a big sign at Llanelli Beach is the only evidence visitors can see anything is amiss. Now the beach is restricted there is little chance of catching anything from the water, and because of the virus we all wash our hands much more and that will be helping.

In Llanelli town air pollution has for years been measured at dangerous levels on busy roads  likely to affect the health of those living on these streets. We cannot know how many have died prematurely due to this air pollution but probably, at least dozens living on these streets have had their lives shortened while traffic has increased. Llanelli needs a bypass, and the lock down has shown us how much it could improve our polluted streets.

How pleasant it has been for those who live in these areas without having to breathe the high levels of chemicals and particles on theses polluted streets! I’m asthmatic and have barely needed to use my inhalers since lock down.

So the virus, Covid 19, has shown us a glimpse of a healthier life with less car use and proper exclusion of people from our polluted beaches.  What we need is for Welsh Water to get a move on and sort out the sewage problems, so they no longer need to dump untreated sewage. Our County Councillors should abandon their reckless policy of giving planning permission for extra houses in the Llanelli area without proper sewage treatment provision. Surely we should close sewage polluted beeches all the time, not just when there is a deadly virus around?

The Lock Down has made Llanelli a safer, healthier place. Lets keep it that way!

Councillor Sian Caiach

Hengoed Ward .

Llanelli