BERMUDA could be hit by an environmental disaster unless authorities develop a contingency plan to handle Hamilton's sewage, it is claimed.

A team of engineers carried out an inspection of the pipe that pumps the capital's raw sewage to the Seabright Outfall located south of Hungry Bay and discovered that sections of the pipe had been either exposed or damaged.

And, according to former Corporation of Hamilton councillor Graeme Outerbridge, waste will be pumped directly into the ocean if the pipe springs a leak ¿ because no back-up plan is in place to handle the sewage in an emergency.

According to a report compiled by Canadian consultant Associated Engineering in May, the current system has had a number of maintenance issues.

"Problems with the inner section have included concrete protection erosion and complete exposure during extreme storm events," the report states.

"During a recent site visit, damage to the concrete embedment over the pipe in the near shore was observed. The Corporation of Hamilton continues to address damage to concrete embedment within this section of the outfall.

"The middle section of the outfall extends to a distance of 1,640 feet offshore and consists of a 14-inch nominal diameter HDPE pipe held in place with anchor chains. This section of the outfall traverses the inner reef and passes through an existing cave in the reef structure. During severe storm events, this section of the outfall has been exposed on several occasions.

"The existing outfall system has provided reliable service to the Corporation of Hamilton, but does require occasional maintenance. Problems with the inner section have included concrete protection erosion and complete exposure during extreme storm events.

"The middle HDPE section has also required maintenance and has cracked, requiring the use of repair clamps. The outer HDPE section has not required any known maintenance. The middle section of the outfall is considered the most vulnerable. Ocean and seabed conditions in the inner and middle sections make replacement of the pipe with a deeper buried pipe difficult."

Yesterday, Mr. Outerbridge said he was concerned that, because the pipe is "susceptible to breakage" an environmental catastrophe was waiting to happen.

And he accused the Corporation of failing to tackle the issue because it would incur a massive expense.

"One of my main concerns is that absolutely nothing has been done about this issue. Because of high energy wave damage that pipe is susceptible to breakage and yet we have no contingency plan in place.

"We need tankers off the east coast where we could pump the sewage into. At the moment, if we were to get another category four hurricane and the pipe was damaged, we would have raw sewage leaking straight into the environment.

"I know the pipe is inspected regularly but the integrity of it is not strong. The Corporation is now looking at drilling into the ground so that a pipe would be completely covered and protected. But that is a huge expense which is why the Corporation isn't doing anything about it at the moment."

In its report, Associated Engineering suggests a method known as Horizontal Directional Drilling as a possible alternative to the current system and identified a number of locations as possible "launching sites" ¿ the current Seabright Avenue location, Ocean Avenue, Ariel Sands, Palm Grove and Devonshire Bay Park.

The firm estimated that the cost of the project would be between $9.3 million and $12.6 million, depending on which site is selected.