Massive creek clean up drive on Wednesday

The initiative, supported by professional divers as well as volunteers from oil firms and shipping companies, is held as part of a campaign aimed at educating the wharfage users on the need to preserve the quality of creek water. The opening ceremony of the event will be held at Al Hamriya Port with school students and inmates of Al Mamzar Old Age Home attending.

Hamdan Al Shaer, Director of Environment Department at Dubai Municipality, said the department is organizing the campaign for the second year running and is aptly titled "Marasina" (our ports).

"There would be professional divers who will be removing garbage from the creek bed during the cleanup. But we are keen on ensuring participation of the dhow workers in the entire operation so that they are made aware of keeping the creek water clean," said Al Shaer.

He added that the volunteers will also include Abra users and people who visit wharfages for different reasons. "We will distribute them along different wharfage points to ensure clean-up of the maximum possible area," he added.

According to Redha Salman, Head of the Environment Protection and Safety Section, the Dhow wharfages on the creek side and Al Hamriya Port receive more than 800 dhows and vessels every month. Dubai Municipality's marine environment team salvages at least 12,000 tons of waste from the creek bed every month.

"We want to educate the dhow employees on the need to significantly reduce this volume of waste. Fines and warnings are not always the way to do it. The campaign will involve them in an exercise that will eventually lead to a higher awareness level among the very people who are the main polluters of the creek water," he said.
During the first edition of the campaign in 2006, some 14 tones of waste was picked up from the creek bed, which included tyres, soft drink cans and other waste, and was sent for recycling.