Hundreds of “sewage balls” have again been found at Grape Bay with one area resident describing it as the worst occurrence in four years.

However, a government spokeswoman said last night that improvements at Tynes Bay to help tackle the problem that has been plaguing South Shore beaches will go live in mid-December.

“There were hundreds and they are all over the beach,” the resident, who asked not to be named, told The Royal Gazette. “It’s the worst infestation I have seen in the four years I have lived on Grape Bay.”

The man, who spends time on the beach “most days”, discovered the “greaseballs” while walking his dogs yesterday morning.

He said they were mainly concentrated in the centre of the beach, whereas they are more commonly found in the East End, which is closer to the Seabright outfall site off Hungry Bay.

According to the spokeswoman, the Ministry of Health and Seniors received and confirmed a report of “greaseballs” on Grape Bay Beach, and took samples of these and the seawater.

She said Elbow Beach was also checked but no “greaseballs” were found and a clean-up was scheduled for Grape Bay yesterday.

“The measures being taken to control grease input to the sewerage system help to prevent these occurrences, but weather conditions also contribute,” she added.

“A treatment plant remains on the table as a long-term solution. In November, Works and Engineering commissioned the Tynes Bay Septage Receiving Station, which will also greatly improve effluent quality and remove grease. The new process goes live in mid-December.”

This newspaper first reported “greaseballs” washing up on South Shore beaches in 2002. They drew growing concern after a 2013 water quality study revealed that human bacteria levels in the waters off South Shore beaches reached up to four times the acceptable US standard during strong easterly winds, tide and swell. This led to an assurance by government that the water quality would be monitored on a daily basis and measures taken to rid the island of potential pollution.

Sampling is done according to the US Environmental Protection Agency recreational water guidelines, which recommend that the 30-day geometric mean does not exceed 35 enterococci per 100 millilitres. The most recent readings on the government website records minimal pollution at Grape Bay with less than five per 100 millilitres.

And while there had been “an improvement over the summer”, the resident said he had spotted them “occasionally” when the winds are from the southeast.

He added that the problem had clearly not been solved despite the Bermuda Government’s effort to reduce fats, oils and grease from entering the sewerage system by passing legislation mandating restaurants to fit grease traps. “We can’t continue to allow this to happen. The problem needs to be solved by the City of Hamilton.”

The resident also said that this could be an “ideal situation” for a public-private partnership for a new treatment plant, adding that the “technology is there and it’s available” and that there are places near Hungry Bay where a treatment plant could be built. After the “greaseballs” reappeared at Grape Bay in August, the Bermuda Tourism Authority, the Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce and Greenrock warned of the detrimental effect “greaseballs” could have on the island’s tourism product.

And Greenrock executive director Jonathan Starling told this newspaper yesterday that the most recent occurrence underlined the need for a national infrastructure plan.

“It seems evident that the current infrastructure isn’t working,” he said. “As I said just a few months ago, we can’t keep dumping our waste in the ocean — the equivalent of sweeping dust under a rug — and hope it will just go away. Often times it comes back to haunt us — in this case in a very direct and disgusting form.

“What seems clear is that the steps that have been taken — while in the right direction — are insufficient, and the system of dumping sewage offshore doesn’t seem to be sustainable anymore.”

Independent tests carried out on water samples from Grape Bay and Hungry Bay in August showed that both beaches were safe for recreational use. This newspaper also commissioned testing at Hungry Bay in June, after we revealed that there were problems with the state-of-the-art sewage treatment plant at the new acute care wing at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

While a government spokeswoman confirmed there were still “issues” with the hospital sewage plant in August, she ruled them out as the “source of the greaseballs at Grape Bay”.

And a Bermuda Hospitals Board spokeswoman said yesterday that “the sewage treatment plant at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is fully functional and is in compliance with operating licence standards”.

“Monthly quality monitoring results from the sewage treatment plant are provided to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.”