or risk a major pollution crisis, an environmental group believes.

The National Trust says too much work is left to the Corporation of Hamilton and Government must take the lead to help prevent inland and offshore pollution.

Last night, however, the Ministry of Environment said programmes were underway to monitor the effects of sewage -- with some running for more than 20 years -- and others were in the pipeline.

Data is also being collected that will show trends in sewage pollution to see if a problem exists.

Recently the Corporation of Hamilton announced multi-million dollar plans to improve sewage disposal from the City. It has also commissioned a study from the Bermuda Biological Station on the effects of the sewage.

The plans include a new pumping station and filters for the sewage pipe running from Hamilton, which deals with much of the Island's sewage.

Yesterday the Trust's marine environmental committee chairman Wayne Carey said: "We are trying to work with the Corporation of Hamilton and their plans to help with sewage disposal.

"But it seems to us that there is not a comprehensive approach to the problem and we are concerned about that.'' Other areas of concern included: The long-term effects of sewage in deep sealed bore holes was not known; There may be no an inventory of what went into the ocean from different outfalls; and Some hotels are still dumping raw sewage into the sea.

He said recently there were some signs of sewage problems, with sewage visible on the South Shore.

"We are not trying to point fingers,'' he said. "We are trying to look at this thing in a very serious way and say there ought to be a comprehensive study to see what impact sewage might be having.'' Environment Minister Pamela Gordon was not available for comment yesterday but the Ministry's Permanent Secretary Dr. James Burnett-Herkes said many studies were underway.

The water authority monitored the bore holes, Hamilton's sewage was being monitored by the Bio Station which is also involved in the Marine Atmospheric programme monitoring the quality of inshore waters. "We have monitored the quality of the inshore waters since the 1970's,'' said Dr. Burnett-Herkes.

"There are also special projects from time to time and at the moment the Bio Station is also doing an in-depth look at Mill Creek.'' He added that hotels, including Elbow Beach and Marriott's Castle Harbour Resort, were building sophisticated sewage treatment plants and that other ocean outfalls, outside Hamilton, were being phased out.

"We have been collecting data for a long time and we are looking now at getting a compilation of all the data collected to show trends,'' he said.

"We keep an eye on the sewage and so far nothing alarming has been taking place, but we need to look at the trends to see if things are getting worse or better.''