Bermuda

BBSR

St. George Harbor

John Smith's Bay

Walsingham Pond

Nahant

Methods

Data

Population Issues

Bermuda has over 62,500 permanent residents.  The density of people on the island is the third highest in the world behind Hong Kong, and Monaco, with 2,942 people per square mile.  The annual influx of visitors is eight time higher than the permanent population.  Because of these facts, Bermuda has several environmental problems.  Two of the main ones are the heavy vehicle traffic on the island, and the interesting sewage treatment policies. 

Automotive Issues

Residents of Bermuda are only allowed to have one car per household, and tourists are not allowed to rent them.  However, there are no restrictions on the number of mopeds, and/or motorcycles driven.  This is also the mode of transportation, aside from taxis, that all of the tourists use to get around the island.  Natives race around the island on these two wheeled terrors, and cause vast amounts of noise and air pollution.  However, they are pretty fun to ride!  To accompany this, there are currently no restrictions on the emissions from vehicles, and the single car rule does not apply to the government or government employees.  Some positive notes, the government is taking steps to regulate emissions, and all gasoline on the island is lead free.

Sewage Issues

Bermuda has a situation much like Boston Harbor did prior to 1952 in that it has no sewage treatment.  There are two solutions to getting rid of the waste on the island.  Firstly, houses use limestone pits that store and process the sewage and wastewater.  This water either goes to underground lakes that are also fed by rainwater, or it diffuses out into the ocean around the island.  Next, the larger sources such as hotels and even Hamilton City, simply pipe their sewage at a rate of about 1.7 million gallons per day, straight into the ocean about a mile off the coast.  Sometimes the waste, in golf ball sized clumps comprised of sewage and grease, wash onto the beaches on the southern shore of the island. 

Potential Problems:

There are some potential problems with this situation.  First, the disease spreading potential of these sewage clumps is great.  Even night soil, human waste collected in Asia to be used as fertilizer, is now required to be composted before use.  Nothing is done to the waste in Bermuda before it is discarded.  Another obvious concern is the visual impact raw sewage on the beaches will have on the tourists.

A second concern is what might happen if the sewage stimulated the growth of marine plants.  "Human sewage might cause the plants on the reef (algae) to grow so fast that they would overgrow and shade the corals and eventually kill the reef," (Inshore Waters).  Also, there may be an increase in phytoplankton for the same reasons.  If this eutrophication occurs, Bermudian waters will not be as clear and pristine as they are expected to be.

Monitoring Efforts:

Monitoring of the inshore waters of Bermuda took place monthly between 1976 and 1996 thanks to the government funded program, The Bermuda Inshore Waters Investigations (BIWI).  Each of the approximately 17 stations looked at factors such as salinity, nutrient and pigment analyses, and temperature and water turbidity.  Two of the main nutrients tested were nitrate and phosphate.  No increased levels of either were found around the island, so the project was stopped.  Some of the variability in the nitrate graph came from the ability of the nitrates to readily move throughout the limestone.  Phosphates tend to stick to the limestone, keeping their oceanic levels relatively low. 

As mentioned before, these tests produced no significant evidence of pollution, but the previously mentioned concerns are still real.  That is why the Southampton Princess Hotel has implemented it's own, private sewage treatment facility.  It uses all of its waste water as fertilizer on its gardens.  There are also independent monitoring programs being carried out by organizations such as the Bermuda Biological Station for Research (BBSR).