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The seawater quality at Grève de Lecq has returned to an "excellent" rating level two weeks after high E.coli levels were discovered – but a popular café in the north coast bay has said the pollution incident cost "thousands" in lost trade.
Official warnings were issued for islanders to avoid swimming in the area and signs put in place, after a reading of 3,300 parts E.coli per 100ml of water was recorded in a sample taken at the bay earlier this month.
Last week, Infrastructure Minister Andy Jehan announced that the suspected cause of the problem had been identified.
He revealed there was "a partial blockage" on an incoming sewer to one of the pumping stations, which caused some sewage to overtop the foul sewer and enter the surface water system that normally carries just the surface water out to sea.
Pictured: It emerged last week that a "partial blockage" on an incoming sewer to one of the pumping stations was the suspected cause of the poor water quality.
The Government confirmed this morning that routine tests taken on Tuesday had since found the seawater quality at Grève de Lecq has returned to “excellent” quality (40 cfu/100ml).
However, samples taken from the affected stream continue to return “poor” quality results, meaning the readings are still over the threshold figure of 500 cfu/100ml.
The Public Health team is no longer recommending islanders avoid swimming in the sea, but continues to advise against entering the stream or surface water outfall at Grève de Lecq.
Environmental and Consumer Protection is also advising that pets should also not drink from the stream.
In a statement, the Government said that the signage will be removed from the beach entrances "as soon as possible", but new ones will be placed specifically at the stream.
The statement continued: "Meanwhile, the investigation into the circumstances that led to the elevated levels of E.coli in the sea at Greve de Lecq is active and there will be no further comment from the regulation team at this time."
Pictured: The Government said that the warning signs will be removed from the beach entrances "as soon as possible"
However, Shaune Carstairs, Head Chef at Colleen's Café, claimed that business decreased "quite dramatically" after the warnings were issued and signs put in place.
"The following Friday there was nobody on the beach," he said, adding that the business decided not to open its separate ice cream concession on the slipway.
Mr Carstairs said: "It's 100% to do with the pollution issue.
"I had a few tourists asking what it was and whether it was safe for their kids to go down the beach."
He estimated that the financial impact of the incident on Colleen's trade was likely in the "thousands", although he said he did not think compensation was likely.
"At least we can see the light at the end of tunnel and this won't stay an ongoing thing," said Mr Carstairs.
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