Coogee Beach is a wide sandy beach overlooking the bay of the same name in the Tasman Sea. It is located in Coogee, a suburb of the Sydney’s eastern suburbs in Australia.. Big waves but familiar, its promenade has restored historic buildings and manicured green areas.
But these days something smells rotten on Coogee Beach and other surrounding Australian beaches. Hundreds of mysterious black balls, which also smell very bad.. The balls are the size of golf balls and look like tar.
It was mid-October and his finding forced the closure of the sandbanks for days to clean them. Eight beaches in this part of New South Wales were closed for several days.
Tar balls?
Each ball was slightly different, but all had a firm surface (hardened in part by the accumulation of sand and minerals such as calcium) and a soft core, describes the BBC. They were collected in plastic bags by workers dressed in protective suits and sent for analysis.
“They smell absolutely disgustingworse than anything you’ve ever smelled.” stated to 9News principal investigator, associate professor Jon Bevesof the University of New South Wales (UNSW).
They smell absolutely disgusting, worse than anything you’ve ever smelled.”
Early analysis suggested that it was probably tar balls from an unrefined oil spill and “not extremely toxic” to humans. But a new assessment speaks of something more complex and disgusting.
It turns out that, according to the new analysis, the black spheres are mostly carbon, but not of fossil origin. They are fatty aggregates that contain human feces, methamphetamine and perfluoroalkylated and polyfluoroalkylated substances, account The Independent.
Chemicals that do not degrade.
-
PFASs are called “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment for tens of years without decomposing. They are highly persistent not only in the environment, but also in the human body. PFASs do not degrade and can accumulate over time.
A nasty chemical cocktail
Scientists at UNSW, led by Beves, used a laboratory technique called spectroscopy to discover that the pellets contain “human waste,” mainly fats, oils, as well as greasy molecules often found in soap scum, cooking oil and food sources.
A more specific test called mass spectrometry revealed organic molecules such as fatty acids and glycerides, as well as “vehicle fuels”, as explained by the researchers in The Conversation. These are many of the things that we humans are releasing without limit into the oceans.
The scientists also found traces of toxic industrial chemicals such as PFASs, pesticides, steroidal compounds such as norgestrel, veterinary drugs and pharmaceuticals to treat hypertension. In addition, they found traces of human fecal waste that contained cholesterol molecules and recreational drugs such as methamphetamine and the tetrahydrocannabinol from the cannabis.
Such a varied mix has led researchers to suspect that black balls are probably come from domestic sewage and runoff industrial runoff. In his opinion, the event highlights the need to address the accumulation of grease in sewers.
The scientists noted that in the past two years they had received warnings of the appearance of smaller balls but very similar to the ones collected now. According to a study by RMIT University in Melbourne in 2023, “the disposal of cooking oil used in households and in the sinks of food-serving establishments results in the formation of very sticky and viscous deposits.”