Festival to be charged for sewage discharge breaches

[ghostdancer1]

57 minutes ago, sime said:

I've been to every Glastonbury since 1993 and in all those years, I always find loos, no matter where I am on the site. I can only speak from my own experience though. Maybe I looked harder, maybe I was just lucky. All I know is, I always find them.

it's not finding them that's the issue, of course they're there somewhere if you keep looking. it's that if people don't see any closeby, they aren't arsed walking all the way from the front of the Other stage to the back of Oxlyers, or from one end of Silver Hayes to the toilets at the other end to have a piss every 30 minutes when it's dark, crowded, and they're with a group.

there's several areas of the site with no toilets or far too few toilets for peak times. obviously some people aren't going to be arsed walking 5mins to use them.

Edited December 17, 2015 by ghostdancer1

[stuwilky]

9 hours ago, ghostdancer1 said:

...or from one end of Silver Hayes to the toilets at the other end to have a piss every 30 minutes when it's dark, crowded, and they're with a group.

 

There are loo's at both ends of Dance Village, the ones at the JP end are just the other side of a hedge - new long drops.

[ghostdancer1]

13 minutes ago, stuwilky said:

There are loo's at both ends of Dance Village, the ones at the JP end are just the other side of a hedge - new long drops.

well they're not on the map...

[Charm]

18 hours ago, stuwilky said:

Ive still never understood why they dont embrace (kinda) the pissing in the bushes culture.

 

Its pretty easy for anyone remotely familiar with the site to highlight some key areas where people piss

- the back of the other stage area (against the railway line)

- various points along the railway line

- the back of the pyramid stage along the tree line next to Hitchen Hill

- the back of West Holts

Wouldnt it be relatively straightforward to run 100 foot of urinal trays there.  People wont stop doing it I suspect so work with them.....

Wont stop the ladies squatting around the place though!

No thanks, turning the railway track into a urinal would be gross, have you forgotten how bad these things smell, I don't want more of them just because a group of bladder impaired morons want to piss everywhere. 
Charm x

[JoBalls]

53 minutes ago, stuwilky said:

There are loo's at both ends of Dance Village, the ones at the JP end are just the other side of a hedge - new long drops.

I camp in Rivermead and walk past that area every day at Glastonbury and have never seen them!! They obviously aren't well signposted!!

[Dukeicon]

52 minutes ago, ghostdancer1 said:

well they're not on the map...

They really aren't which is surprising as they are quite a large set of toilets/urinals!

13 minutes ago, JoBalls said:

I camp in Rivermead and walk past that area every day at Glastonbury and have never seen them!! They obviously aren't well signposted!!

They are the other side of the bridge outside of Silver Hayes area but not towards Rivermead.
Where the red rectangles are on the map.

[elias]

It's not really sensible to say 'There are enough toilets, people should use them'. Clearly this is not happening. People should use them, but many do not. You cannot ignore a problem just because you don't think it should be a problem.

More facilities are required in areas that get crowded eg. the main stages. I think there should be an awful lot more urinals around the place. I'm sure there will always be a few idiots who will relieve themselves anywhere, but the majority would use the facilities if they were easily available.

More urinals would prevent urinating in the hedgerows and free up the sit down toilets for the ladies.
The festival has to do an analysis on the problem to find out why people are not using the current facilities. Only when this is known can they proceed to find the solution.

Edited December 18, 2015 by elias

[stuwilky]

3 hours ago, Charm said:

No thanks, turning the railway track into a urinal would be gross, have you forgotten how bad these things smell, I don't want more of them just because a group of bladder impaired morons want to piss everywhere. 
Charm x

Talking one of my suggested locations and dismissing it doesnt dismiss the idea

 

I think my point was more that people piss there anyway.  Walking along the railway line at any time of the day or night tells you this.  Is it better to piss somewhere where it gets collected, or where it goes into the river?  It smells either way...... the urinal could be near the existing long drops (for example near the junction at the bottom of pennards - people seriously cant be bothered walking down that hill in any case and piss at the junction - stick a pot there - wouldnt smell any more than it does now!

If mohammed wont walk ten yards to the mountain to take a wee then move the mountain.

[stuwilky]

2 hours ago, JoBalls said:

I camp in Rivermead and walk past that area every day at Glastonbury and have never seen them!! They obviously aren't well signposted!!

Walk through the gap between The Gully and and the blues, turn left, over the bridge and look right.  About 30 secs walk from the gully.  They were nasty checical toilets previously (and were bloody awful in 2014) - but they are now long drops.  They arent on the map either but are definitely there.

[sime]

3 hours ago, ghostdancer1 said:

it's not finding them that's the issue, of course they're there somewhere if you keep looking. it's that if people don't see any closeby, they aren't arsed walking all the way from the front of the Other stage to the back of Oxlyers, or from one end of Silver Hayes to the toilets at the other end to have a piss every 30 minutes when it's dark, crowded, and they're with a group.

there's several areas of the site with no toilets or far too few toilets for peak times. obviously some people aren't going to be arsed walking 5mins to use them

As I said, I am speaking from my own experience where I have always found a loo to use. I'm not an animal and I can 'hold it in' until I find a loo. And you are right, some people just can't be arsed to wait. In a group or in a crowd though, I personally always use a loo. Yay me... There is always a need for more toilets but the ones that are there can be found if you have the manners to hold it in until you find one and the signs are there for finding them. What I really hate are the people pissing against fences in the morning etc around the campsites, all of which do have clearly signposted loos. I find no excuse for that. It was happening quite a lot at the bottom of Bushy Ground where I camp. 

[Charm]

55 minutes ago, stuwilky said:

Talking one of my suggested locations and dismissing it doesnt dismiss the idea

 

I think my point was more that people piss there anyway.  Walking along the railway line at any time of the day or night tells you this.  Is it better to piss somewhere where it gets collected, or where it goes into the river?  It smells either way...... the urinal could be near the existing long drops (for example near the junction at the bottom of pennards - people seriously cant be bothered walking down that hill in any case and piss at the junction - stick a pot there - wouldnt smell any more than it does now!

If mohammed wont walk ten yards to the mountain to take a wee then move the mountain.

People are using the fence even when toilets are nearby and the truth is there are festival goers who think it's ok to piss on the land and there are those that would never consider it and having more facilities will not change the type of person you are, I suspect the only thing that could help is more public shaming. 
Charm x

[brettredmayne]

Just seen on Facebook that the festival are in court today over this.

[wwinstanley]

Such a shame that despite the amount of advertising/broadcasting asking people not to piss on the land people are still doing it.

I was in one lot of urinals on the Saturday night last year, at the end of a row. Bloke comes up next to me, pisses into the mud on the floor. Once he's finished the next guy strolls up, bare foot, stands in the piss soaked mud and pisses pretty much on his own feet. Some people you just wont stop.

The festival should identify the main wild pissing sites, and place cameras/stewards with cameras there. Then some sort of facial recognition program can be used to go through all the photos of the tickets issued and issue them with a ban for 2 or 3 years. Of course there will be twots who aren't planning on returning that will piss anywhere but I think the threat of a ban would prevent most people.

[ghostdancer1]

maybe they should just put toilets at the end of Silver Hayes so, as clearly people aren't arsed walking several minutes through campsites to get to them during a gig, assuming they know about them as I doubt those ones are signposted from outside The Gully or anywhere down that end.

[___S_o_m_a__]

1 hour ago, wwinstanley said:

The festival should identify the main wild pissing sites, and place cameras/stewards with cameras there. Then some sort of facial recognition program can be used to go through all the photos of the tickets issued and issue them with a ban for 2 or 3 years.

Less cameras, more bogs.

[Dukeicon]

So it looks like it was a leak from a tank that polluted a local stream.

 

 

Edited January 14, 2016 by Dukeicon

[Dukeicon]

More from BBC News.

 

Quote

The organisers of the Glastonbury Festival have admitted allowing human sewage to leak from a tank and pollute a local stream.

The leak happened at the Worthy Farm site in Somerset in June 2014 and damaged water quality and killed fish.

Founder Michael Eavis was at Yeovil Magistrates' Court to face the charges.

The Glastonbury Festival is one of the UK's biggest music events, with some 175,000 people attending each year.

During the hearing, the judge was told that 39 fish were killed by the sewage.

Mr Eavis's defence told the court the watercourse historically did not have normal oxygen levels.

The case has now been adjourned while both parties put together more detailed background reports.

Another issue yet to be decided is the seriousness of the breach.

If it is a category one offence, the festival would be in line for a fine of between £55,000 to £300,000 or, if it is deemed a category two the fine would be £20,000.

 

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-35312888

Edited January 14, 2016 by Dukeicon

[Stretlow]

I know the whole thing is bad bla bla bla...

 

But did anyone else burst out laughing 

 

" During the hearing, the judge was told that 39 fish were killed by the sewage"

I've lost 6 in my fish tank in the last 12 months 

 

 

 

[wwinstanley]

2 hours ago, ___S_o_m_a__ said:

Less cameras, more bogs.

Yeah I agree More bogs would definitely work.

But myself and my mates are conscious enough of the festival that even if we have to queue or walk a little further to avoid putting it in jeopardy we will.

Its really not hard to piss into a bog if you are asked to for the sake of the festival.

[Chazwozza]

6 minutes ago, Stretlow said:

I know the whole thing is bad bla bla bla...

 

But did anyone else burst out laughing 

 

" During the hearing, the judge was told that 39 fish were killed by the sewage"

I've lost 6 in my fish tank in the last 12 months 

 

 

 

Well perhaps you should stop pissing in your fish tank...?

[eFestivals]

as I said originally, it wasn't about pissing in the hedges but something else - a leaking tank.

There's a lesson there, about how newspapers make it up and how other people have worked from better sources. /smug.

 

 

 

[bennyhana22]

4 hours ago, wwinstanley said:

Such a shame that despite the amount of advertising/broadcasting asking people not to piss on the land people are still doing it.

I was in one lot of urinals on the Saturday night last year, at the end of a row. Bloke comes up next to me, pisses into the mud on the floor. Once he's finished the next guy strolls up, bare foot, stands in the piss soaked mud and pisses pretty much on his own feet. Some people you just wont stop.

The festival should identify the main wild pissing sites, and place cameras/stewards with cameras there. Then some sort of facial recognition program can be used to go through all the photos of the tickets issued and issue them with a ban for 2 or 3 years. Of course there will be twots who aren't planning on returning that will piss anywhere but I think the threat of a ban would prevent most people.

Woah, woah, woah there, winstanley!

I'm 100% against people being irresponsible (even if 'tired and emotional' and just pissing everywhere, for all sorts of reasons, including potentially jeopardising the festival.

I'm 100% any more bloody cameras. Glastonbury, and festivals like it, is one of the only places I feel I can now feel a genuine sense of freedon, away from the (often essential, I realise) constraints and limitations of the world outside the Superfence, including not feeling that I am on CCTV 24/7.

Education, not draconian measures, surely...?

Ben

[Chazwozza]

Ermmmm... Ben, are you STILL on strike?

[The Nal]

So the council have blamed it on "Endless sewage streaming from the Pyramid Stage during Kanye Wests set". 

[eFestivals]

2 minutes ago, The Nal said:

So the council have blamed it on "Endless sewage streaming from the Pyramid Stage during Kanye Wests set". 

nah, and it's lucky they haven't.

Cos I don't think Glasto could afford the fine for that much damage.