The MANGROVE ECOSYSTEM ASSESSMENT GRAEME HALL NATURE SANCTUARY report was prepared by the Environmental Engineering Consultants, Inc for Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in 2010. The findings in the report demand an immediate statement from the authorities regarding how the Graeme Hall wetland is being managed -importantly, the release of raw sewage into the wetland.
You have been at the “forefront” in casting blame on the former BLP administration, seeking to hold them accountable for the problems at the South Coast Sewage Plant (and rightfully so).
However, it is hypocritical to argue that, on one hand, the DLP SHOULD NOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for the “Grotto financial mess,” but blame should be apportioned, according to Kellman, to the accounting officers and technocrats.
Yet, on the other hand, you are posting multiple contributions to BU in which you are trying to convince readers the BLP should be held accountable for the recent sewage mess.
To be “fair and balanced”, you should also EXHIBIT a SIMILAR amount of ZEAL and ENTHUSIASM in CALLING for Sinckler, Denis Kellman and Michael Lashley to be HELD ACCOUNTABLE and ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY for the FINANCIAL INFELICITIES and COST OVER-RUNS at NHC’s Grotto housing projects, as highlighted by the Auditor General’s special report. Additionally, you should ENCOURAGE them to ATTEND the PAC meetings, especially if, in your opinion, they don’t have anything to hide.
Unfortunately, you, as a political yard-fowl, who is paid by the DLP to push their political propaganda on BU, will find excuses to put PARTY BEFORE COUNTRY.
They built a lemon and short cuts are the underlying causes inherent in the design of the plant exabberated by population size and further commericalization of the area and a plant built on swamp land
Some bedtime reading for the armchair engineer.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3152/147154602781766708?needAccess=true&
@ ac December 12, 2016 at 10:38 AM
Listen up, you old shit crab! Why don’t you stop crawling all over the place and go back into the cesspool in George Street?
OSA has already taken full responsibility for all mistakes and failures which occurred during his watch as PM.
What more you want the man to do? Become a sesquipedalian of a braying jackass proving to the world the veracity of the old Bajan saying that “edication ain’t commonsense”?
Why don’t you stop whipping a dead political horse or is it because OSA is no longer at Mia’s neck ready to bite out her swallow pipe?
Clearly .OSA understands he could never talk about morality where Mia is concerned. So he is of no future value to you lot.
Shit crab, why don’t you advise your administration to fix the sluice gate? That gate was not built during OSA’s time so it’s the responsibility of any incumbent administration to maintain it in good working order or replace it.
Now this advice is not coming from the stupid miller the standpipe engineer but from a well respected and knowledgeable professional engineer. Here is one Bajan white man you ought to listen to other than Maloney.
Ask Kevin if he thinks the ‘white’ professional engineer is making sense.
Has either government ever held any of the required interagency meetings to stay abreast and ahead of the ever changing negative issues associated with the sewage plant…I doubt it, ACs ya liars.
“Project description
The South Coast Sewerage Project is a subcompo-
nent of the Solid Waste Management Program
(which encapsulates physical, legislative, and insti-
tutional strengthening initiatives and intervention) of
the Government of Barbados.
The implementation of the South Coast Sewerage Project commenced in
1995, however, the foundation for this work was
environmental impact assessments conducted during
the 1980s. These studies sought to identify the prob-
lems and solutions for solid waste management.
The South Coast Sewerage Project aims to cap-
ture all sewage emanating from private and com-
mercial entities in an area from Bay Street to Oistins
reaching 1 mile inland. The objective is to assist in
protecting fragile coral reefs and to help sustain the
fishing and tourism industries. Studies revealed that
70% of the South Coast’s waste was captured in
suck wells or septic tanks. Septic tanks are prone to
overflowing and the suck wells directly interact with
the seawater because the South Coast’s groundwater
table is very high (five feet below the surface in
some areas).
This interchange between groundwater, sewage, and seawater has the potential to cause ma-
jor environmental and health problems. As an addi-
tional benefit, the project seeks to eliminate the
spending of substantial funds on septic tank clear-
ance by South Coast property owners.
One expected negative environmental effect is an
increase in algae, which deprives reefs of oxygen
(and life). The resulting reef devastation can prompt
beach erosion that would inevitably affect (nega-
tively) the tourism industry and the economy as a
whole.
Another effect is the destruction of seagrass
beds, which have diminished the near-shore fish
population.
The high levels of bacteria present in the
sewage pose a health risk to persons bathing in the
sea.
The South Coast Sewerage Project also provides
benefits to a predecessor project — the Bridgetown
Sewerage Plant at Fontabelle in the parish of St Mi-
chael. In 1995, the Bridgetown plant was handling
25,000 gallons a day, as contrasted with its design
capacity of 5,000 gallons.
This situation has resulted in septic trucks being turned away from the plant, a
consequence that has made some environmentalists
fearful that the contents of some of these ‘rejected
trucks’ found their way into the sea. Stephen Lindo,
the engineer in charge of the Waste Water Division
of the Barbados Water Authority in 1995, stated
that, with the development of the South and West
Coast Sewerage Projects, there would be considera-
bly less pressure on the Bridgetown plant.
The US$73.1 million South Coast Sewerage
Project, which is being jointly financed by the Inter-
American Development Bank (IDB), the European
Investment Bank, and the Government of Barbados,
is comprised of four major contracts:
• Contract 1: Construction of a treatment plant
This package is at Graeme Hall in Christ Church.
It was completed in 1997, at a cost of US$10
million.
• Contract 2: Placement of system components
This contract, which in 2002 was underway, con-
sists of about 40 kilometers of pipes under the
street. It is being built for US$22.1 million. The
original contractor was relieved of its duties, be-
cause of certain discrepancies. The contract is
now being undertaken by another company. This
project’s components create a tremendous impact
on the public, via traffic diversions, dust, noise,
and inconvenience. The Government, via the Pro-
ject Execution Unit (PEU), generally responded to
these problems in three ways: the establishment of
a ‘Traffic Committee’; the establishment of a
‘Utilities Coordination Committee; and the use of
Micro tunneling.
• Contract 3: Construction of a marine outfall
This contract, which was built near Needhams
Point, was completed in November 1996 for ap-
proximately US$6.5 million. There was some
public concern over the effects that would be
borne by the Carlisle Bay ecosystem because of
this project component. The planned location,
however, was prompted by a one-year island-wide
study, which revealed that the currents in this area
were not only the fastest but were 99% offshore in
direction. Additionally, a substantially long out-
fall (1.1 kilometers) was used that contained dif-
fusers to improve the dispersion process.
• Contract 4: Connection of system components
There are two components of this particular
phase: installation of 40,000 water meters on an
island wide basis; and connection of properties..”
@ ac
Against the background of you always come to BU writing about “facts” and “truth,” could you please PRESENT to us any CASE STUDY or REPORT that would SUBSTANTIATE your claims re: “the sewage plant was built at minimal cost” and “short cuts are the underlying causes inherent in the design of the plant?”
Before POSTING further comments on this issue, the resident yard-fowls should read the “Social impact assessment of a sewerage project in Barbados,” by Calvin Husbands and Prasanta Kumar Dey, as suggested by BU.
This task will assist them in separating FACT from the FICTION and POLITICAL RHETORIC they continue to spew on this topic.
It’s total neglect of the sewage system by this present government, as we all know, causing this overflowing and backing up of raw sewage.
As this report suggests, the ACs and the government ministers are outright liars…that’s why they have to own the raw sewage leak, it is wickedness, laziness and negligence on the government minister’s part causing the leaks.
The decision handed down by the case Peter Allard brought against the government conflicts somewhat with the widely held view that the government is responsible for the deterioration of the Graeme Hall wetland.
http://isdsblog.com/2016/10/13/just-published-peter-allard-v-canada/
@ Well Well & Consequences December 12, 2016 at 12:26 PM
A major fallout from this whole shitty fiasco will be the extensive undermining of the foundation and the integrity of the main road which functions as a vital artery to the national network.
Waste water moving underground will not only cause the collapse of the already poorly constructed road but also weaken the ground that supports the many utility poles lining that main thoroughfare.
I wonder if Sir John the Diviner has other views on the matter.
If there is a high probability of this scenario occurring then the dog is dead from the game of Russian roulette this administration has been playing with public sanitation and the health of the citizens for the past 5 years in their exercise of fiscal gymnastic while juggling 19 balls in a cabinet of corruption.
Miller don’t u ask Mia this question .
Why would any one with even a half of a brain designate swamp land to build a sewer plant
The swamp was placed in an area strictly for the purpose of protecting our eco system but No the politicians of the day decided it best to rezone and infiltrate either the plant becomes relocated or people living in that area reaps natures fury
Isn’t Graeme Hall a wetland read NATURAL habitat?
I read the case and the judgement .However the findings are explicit to ownership and govt has a right to make a decision on property it owns.
However govt also signed agreements for the protection of that area as far back as 1992 and have reneged which in part is causing many of the problems that are affecting the blockages in the swamp and the overflow of sewage which cannot be handle by the sewage plant
Bye folks have a nice day
ACs…ya gotta run, ya dont have any legs to stand on, yall are exposed.
Miller..think sinkholes.
“The decision handed down by the case Peter Allard brought against the government conflicts somewhat with the widely held view that the government is responsible for the deterioration of the Graeme Hall wetland.”
very much so. What was never considered other than in passing comments (and because it was not contested), was the ‘expectation of profit’. Meaning the facility closed not because of environmental issues related to the ‘sanctuary itself’, but because it could not generate the revenue to cover its costs?
@ ac December 12, 2016 at 1:44 PM
“Why would any one with even a half of a brain designate swamp land to build a sewer plant”
Only an accredited cretin like you & co with no brain at all would even contemplate entering a set of one-sided agreements to build the Cahill WTE plant (aka scam) right in the heart of an environmentally fragile coral atoll for a country and upwind from the most posh and prestigious hotel on the island catering to the rich and famous from all over the World?
Only a brainless zombie like the other A C Alvin the clown would consider building a WTE plant based on untried and suspect technology and totally dependent on the continuous importation of other people’s toxic garbage and the consumption of scarce water resources with a totally unreliable supply to the same area of construction.
ac December 12, 2016 at 1:44 PM #
“The SWAMP WAS PLACED IN AN AREA STRICTLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROTECTING OUR ECO SYSTEM but No the politicians of the day decided it best to rezone and infiltrate either the plant becomes relocated or people living in that area reaps natures fury.”
@ ac
Do you care explaining to BU the identity of the individual, organization, special interest group, ministry or even political party that PLACED the SWAMP “in an AREA STRICTLY for the PURPOSE of PROTECTING our ECO SYSTEM?
Wuh part de people buy or tek de swamp from before placing it in de area to protect de eco-system?
Do you actually know what is a swamp and what is the eco-system?
AC, wunnuh got to be a consortium of jackasses.
Lol…..ACs dont what what a swamp is, were you expecting yardfowls to know that and what is an ecosystem too. ..lol…they are not to question why, they are just to post rubbish..lol
@ ac
If you could be so STUPID as to respond to this issue by writing: “The SWAMP WAS PLACED IN AN AREA STRICTLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF PROTECTING OUR ECO SYSTEM,” then all your other contributions to this topic should be dismissed as “rhetorical political diatribe.”
Galileo Galilei said: “I have NEVER met a man so IGNORANT that I COULDN’T learn something from him.” Once again the ACs went out of their way to PROVE Galileo WRONG.
Man did not design nature natures laws are infinte that is why i can say that the swamp was designed to protect our eco system a truth that you artax would never understand
Once again you have proven how IGNORANT you are. If you understood anything, you would not have written such shiite!!!!!
All you have to do is bring the evidence to prove what you wrote. And I know you can’t.
I cannot believe that, in the year 2016, there are people existing in Barbados as stupid as you are and what makes it funny is that you don’t know when to quit.
The DLP has to be scraping the bottom of the barrel if they hired you lot to represent them in this forum.
Remember, “TRUTH” is only accepted when it can be “definitively proven or verified” and not by you writing shiite….. claiming it is truth, without presenting the necessary evidence to substantiate your claim.
The tribunal disagreed with the investor that Barbados has failed to accord him full protection and security by failing to prevent pollution from coming to the sanctuary. As a departing point, the tribunal asserted that the obligation of the State to provide the investment with full protection and security standard is of ”due diligence” and ”reasonable care” – not of strict liability.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So if the sewage causes a medical problem for a sea bather after the Ministers removed the sign, does that mean the GOB is not liable?
Waste water moving underground will not only cause the collapse of the already poorly constructed road but also weaken the ground that supports the many utility poles lining that main thoroughfare.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Consult a civil or road engineer.
If the water coming up through the manholes in the road between ESSO and Big B was evidence of how high the level in the swamp rose then it should be checked out.
Back to the sluice gate to get water out of the swamp.
How much higher than sea level did the swamp level go?
Check the report and see what the predictions are.
Check page 86 for estimated flood levels after a storm
The normal level is estimated to be 0.4 metres
The maximum estimated level is 1.6 metres.
What is the elevation of the road from Esso to Big B?
How much water would 1156 acres of catchment produce after 6 inches of rain?
1156 acres would produce 582 acre feet of water over the period of the 6 inch rainfall
How many gallons is that?
Internet says 189.6 million gallons!!!!
That’s a lot of water trying to get to the sea.
No wonder there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In a day, the BWA pumps about 40 million to serve the whole island!!!
So if my numbers are right, we had collecting in the catchment area about 4.5 days of water for the entire island!!!!!!
If 6 inches over 1156 acres was concentrated into 1/10th of the area that would make the highest rise about 5 feet
That rise probably won’t happen because there is underground flow.
But, 5 feet is about 1.6 metres
Simple common sense says the sluice gate needs to operate!!
What is the elevation of the road where water was seen coming from manholes?
I will try and find out
“In July of 2014, six months after the sewerage plant stopped working, they had a proposal from the Chinese Government . . . first given on the 21st of July to the Barbados Water Authority from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China . . . to lend them [over] $200 million, 85 per cent of the cost for building of a west coast sewerage plant, a Bridgetown upgrade, and a south coast sewage treatment upgrade for the plant here.” Mottley told supporters.
https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/12/13/govt-ignored-funding-for-sewerage-project/
http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/91384/guests-bolt
The liars in government are causing tourists to disappear.
Mia ought to keep her mouth shut on the issue of ongoing problems plaguing the sewage plant. a plant initiated and built under the blp govt a plant relatively new but yet from the start has never been functional ,that is where the embarrassment lies
An embarrassment of taxpayers money being flushed down the sewer pipes because of
poor planning and govt oversights .
A total disaster and embarrassment to the BLP and a misappropriation of wasteful spending, Now to make matters worse she suggest that govt borrows 200 million to fix a project where the initial cost started at 22 million and most likely ballooned to tripled the amount
Mia ideas are those that nightmares are made of
If the government had listened to Mia last year when she broached this matter in guarded language Barbadians on the South Coast would not have to be walking and swimming in shit. You have lost all credibility on the blog with your predictable yardfowl spin on every issue.
David
Don’t pay any mind to @ac he is just a another DLP clown.
How ironic is it that a year ago, Mia in very coded language asked the PM to resolve a non-functioning south coast sewage plant and that she was quoting from an internal BWA report of Dr. Patricia Inniss…………..who is not only the BWA water quality expert consultant but also was a candidate in general elections for the DLP. Dr. Patricia Inniss ran against none other than ………………………………….MIA AMOR MOTTLEY.
Then we have the Governor of the Central Bank, the Minister of Finance and Prime Minister making a formal request for assistance with the IMF without the knowledge of either Cabinet of Barbados or the people of Barbados.
NOT ONLY MUST CHRIS SINCKLER, DELISLE WORRELL AND FRUENDEL STUART RESIGN BUT THEY MUST CALL A GENERAL ELECTIONS SO THAT THE GOVERNMENT ENTRUSTED TO NEGOTIATE THE IMF PROGRAM, TERMS AND CONDITIONS HAVE A MANDATE FROM THE PEOPLE.
ac December 13, 2016 at 6:06 AM #
“………. a misappropriation of wasteful spending…..”
@ ac
What the hell is “a misappropriation of wasteful spending?”
Well, I guess similarly how a “swamp was PLACED in an area,” maybe we can “misappropriate wasteful spending.”
And the frightening thing about this is that the jackasses are giving multiple “thumbs up” to the shiite and poor English they posts, attempting to make it appear as though many other people agree with their contributions, while giving “thumbs down” to other contributions.
The DLP is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The DLP is the bottom of the barrel.
No if the govt of the day of which Mia was a cabinet minister had done proper reasearch and listened to the advise of environmentalist and respected engineers the south coast would not be swimming in shit.
The failure by the blp to listened and not lean on political advice is part and parcel of the problem.
To build a plant adjacent to a wild life sanctuary moreover on swamp land and a low capacity to handle growing commercial and population size is ludicrous and borderline madness
Now to reach resolution on how to fix a problem of such magnitude does not need the artchitect of this political debacle which was orchestered by same people but wisdom and commonsense approach absence of political art dodgers
The culpability lays squarely on those who made the maddening calls to built without realsing the long term consequences.
Yes govt must now find relevant solutions to fix the problem aware of the multiple factors involved which would include a high cost to tax payers because of a project which was proposed without correct planning and foresight
ACs..let’s make it simple, cause all stuoidity is nauseating.
If you bought a house or was given a house and the previous contractor did shoddy work, wont you hire a new contractor to either… fix that house, or you would buy a new house…
…..yall sound like a goddamn broken record, it’s been nearly 10 years ya been sitting ya lazy asses in parliament and yall did nothing about the escalating sewage problem, ya allowed the sewage to build up, bulge and explode, so that is what ya will continue to get when you do nothing, built up and exploding poop.
Wait until the saturated ground for at least a mile in each direction of the swamp starts to loosen because of soggy, unstable earth, ya think ya got problems now…but be aware, it’s yall created the problems by doing nothing about any of it, although you were aware and warned.
What’s so hard about that to understand.
Yes u said it a nonfunctional plant built with an intended purpose but never had the capacity and capability of performing at maxium level
Question who built the plant and why was there not a high level of questions to pefromance and efficiency by those who initated and proposed the plant
questions of resolution now present which could have been easily avoided if due dilligence was first order of business
@ ac December 13, 2016 at 10:40 AM
“Question who built the plant and why was there not a high level of questions to pefromance and efficiency by those who initated and proposed the plant
questions of resolution now present which could have been easily avoided if due dilligence was first order of business..”
Oh shit crab, aren’t you doing rather fine in your swampy element of shit!
It seems as if your deceitful lying party administration adopted a similar model when the Grotto and Cahill WTE scam were concocted. The Auditor General’s report is sufficient due diligence to expose the Grotto scam.
Lol..that is what happens when you immerse the island in raw sewage for 8 years, yardfowls can only spew raw sewage.loĺ lol
No that is what happens when the sh.it hits the fan and other people,s incompetence is uncovered like a festering sore
@ ac
Are you also going to blame Mottley for commuters WAITING as long as five (5) hours in the Fairchild Street bus terminal for Transport Board buses to service a number of routes?
While you are at it, blame Mottley for the fact that, although bus repairs are subcontracted to 4 or 5 “mechanical repairs shops,” Transport Board is only able to utilize an operational fleet of approximately 80 units per day.
ACs..again..the “other””…people you speak about are not and were not the leaders of government for the past 8 years…so the “incompetence” is owned by the current leaders whose manifestos state that they would FIX EVERYTHING that was and is wrong in the country…because according to them, they KNOW EVERYTHING and are better skilled THAN EVERYONE ONE ELSE.
The incompetence is theirs…even the tourists who live thousands of miles away can see that…why ya think they are leaving, they will say the present government is useless…they would never mention a government from 8 years ago cause they are more intelligent than that and live in reality.
Anyone know anything about the tides and the sea?
Seems there was a spring tide on 30 November, the day after the rain
https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Bridgetown-Barbados/tides/latest
There is one today.
http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/moontides/
Spring Tides
When the moon is full or new, the gravitational pull of the moon and sun are combined. At these times, the high tides are very high and the low tides are very low. This is known as a spring high tide. Spring tides are especially strong tides (they do not have anything to do with the season Spring). They occur when the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon are in a line. The gravitational forces of the Moon and the Sun both contribute to the tides. Spring tides occur during the full moon and the new moon.
So just by chance, this happened on our 50th anniversary of Independence
The rain on the 29th was probably associated with the event … not independence!!
Now if we lived in earlier times in ignorance we would swear the gods had sent an omen.
Thing is, in our ignorance we would have sensed something coming from the alignments of celestial bodies!!
Anyway, nowadays we have technology and we can see that the satellite images don’t look bad for today.
Perhaps the bubbling manholes with moving covers were made more pronounced by the High Spring Tide.
Next high tide is at 3:50 am so if anyone is on the road between Esso and Big B and sees manholes moving in the early morning it may just be the tide and will have nothing to do with the alcohol level in your blood..
That’s about 9 hours from now.
The levels in the wetlands and swamp will be pushed higher not only by the rain but also by the sea.
Drive safely!!
Then again, perhaps the levels have subsided sufficiently now that the manholes will not pour forth water and covers will not move.
Tomorrow at 3:25 pm (afternoon) will be a higher tide (by about 0.6 of a foot) than the one in the early hours of tomorrow so it may be that one that is worth watching to see if the manholes respond.
It may very well be that now the sluice gate has been opened the levels have fallen but pass by and see if anything happens!!
https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Bridgetown-Barbados/tides/latest
Further reports of weeping (thanks John) manhole covers on the South Coast that comes with the inevitable stench.
I saw one today.
I also saw a lot of guppies and mollies on the other side of the road from the channel.
They are fresh water fish
They have survived in the wetlands for ages so perhaps that is a good sign
I remember in my youth getting some from Maxi Pontifex.
But if I am right about the manhole covers and their behaviour does indicate tide fluctuations then we can easily understand that as the tide rises, it pushes water inland, but invisibly and underground.
Once we get to that realization then the converse must be true.
As the tide falls, water in the wetlands must flow out underground to the sea … sluice gate or no sluice gate.
Completely invisibly.
Now, if the wetlands have been used as a sewage dump, then the nearshore waters must be affected.
It is inevitable.
We should check those manholes at High Tide and see if we can learn something.
One thing must be obvious if my thinking is valid, and that is the water quality in the wetlands is what should really be of concern to us, not so much the nearshore waters where people (not me) bathe.
If we can’t control the water quality in the wetlands, the nearshore water quality must be impacted.
Maybe it is safer to bathe at high tide if water quality is your concern but if you can’t swim well, forget it, and if you can’t swim well and are concerned about water quality, give it a miss!!
… now, if we look at the 1156 acres of catchment that ends up in the wetlands, we are immediately struck by the high levels of housings and “development” that are present.
None of these are sewered.
It follows that the sewage plant in the wetlands is not the only source of sewage!!!
Even if we progress to a failsafe method of operating the plant, it may not matter one iota!!
Check the satellite image in the report and the boundaries of the catchment area and look at what and who dumps sewage into the wetlands besides the sewage plant.
… and it ends up in the sea!!
The blogmaster invites you to join the discussion.