Relief in sight

Residents of Lower Estate, St George are being promised relief from the pungent odours emanating from the dump in their community, by the end of the year.

Deputy Chief Environmental Officer Ronald Chapman gave that assurance during the St George Speaks town hall meeting on Thursday when he revealed that the initial planning for a large-scale clean-up operation has been completed but a wait for some vital equipment is now the holdup.

He explained that given the health and environmental concerns that are predicted to emerge once works begin, specialised equipment had to be ordered for the massive operation.

“What the residents were adamant about, and rightly so, is that once we start to do the remediation we expect that the removal of the topsoil and other parts of the dump will cause flare-ups, and if that is going to happen then we need to be able to monitor that site as the remediation process went on,” Chapman said, noting that “the problem will get worse before it gets better”.

“For us to do that, we had to get our own air sampling equipment…. The Ministry of Health went ahead and we paid for the air sampling equipment and we are presently waiting for that equipment to come to us so that we can start.”

The Ministry of Health official further explained that the equipment was not off-the-shelf gear but had to be custom-made.

“So it takes time for that to be done, and that is why we are in that waiting period right now…. We anticipate it should get here in about two months’ time,” he explained.

“The actual fixing of the problem, if we were to start now, would take us approximately three to four months to finish, because all of the material is on the site, the machinery is there, we have had site visits from the Sanitation Service Authority, and the Fire Service, so everything is in place to fix the problem. The only issue we have had in terms of fixing the problem is that residents would have said we need to be able to monitor the emissions from the site when the remediation starts.”

Chapman stressed that while an end to the unacceptable environmental situation is in sight, residents should be prepared for an uncomfortable three to four-month period when work finally commences.

The dump which had been operated by waste hauler Anderson Cherry has for several years been a source of concern and frustration for residents who say it has created a host of health problems.

In September last year, the Chief Town Planner served enforcement and stop notices, saying that the mining and quarrying taking place on the property bordering a landfill was being done without the necessary permission.

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb