Acid lake at Jumeirah Islands: Clean-up act

Dubai: An algae-infested man-made lake at Jumeirah Islands has been cleaned up following complaints from residents, but they say there is still a "disgusting smell".

For months, residents living in the exclusive gated community had requested Nakheel to clean the lake, but the developer acted only recently.

Maintenance issue

British expatriate Jim Under-wood refused to pay Nakheel the service fee because he said the developer failed to maintain the lake and repair faults in his multi-million-dirham villa.

"For months they have done nothing about this lake and acted last Sunday. Although whatever they did has cleared away the algae, there is still a disgusting smell. There were so many mosquitoes in there that it looked as though it was raining on the water. I just hope now that they maintain it properly and don't allow it to deteriorate as badly as it was before," he said.

He added that he has seen workers fumigate the lake in the mornings. This left a thick fog of chemicals above the water surface, he said. "You can hear them in the morning. Residents are warned not to go outside and keep doors and windows closed. They do it to get rid of the insects, but I think it's had a knock-on effect because we don't get any birds here. When I first came here we had flamingoes and other birds but not any more."

Fellow resident Samar Sarwar, a Briton who moved to the area with her family three years ago, said: "The biggest problem for us is the flies. Nakheel hardly ever did anything on the lake and they never informed the residents," she said.

Nakheel's response

A Nakheel spokesperson said the problems on the lake have been caused due to interruption to supply of fresh sea water for feeding the lake. "The concerns of residents are of the utmost importance and we have taken necessary steps to resolve the situation; an extensive 48-day lake rectification programme has been done by Nakheel Asset Management and Design and since then significant improvement in the water quality has been witnessed," the spokesperson said.

Periodic water quality testing is also carried out by environment specialists, the spokesperson add-ed. "Data shows constant positive improvement, indicating a decline in nutrient levels and an increase in salinity, which collectively addresses any evidence of algae build-up."