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RH PR Spiel from BWA Conflicting with the TRUTH about the Sewage Plant

After listening to the two Barbados Water Authority (BWA) officials (Nicole Austin of the Waste Water Unit and Joy-Ann Haigh Corporate Communication) on the Sunday talk show it prompted the blogmaster to have another listen to an earlier program of the 13 November 2017 with Patricia Inniss the manager of the Waste Water Division. It…

, ,
Patricia Inniss, head of the Waste Unit at the BWA

After listening to the two Barbados Water Authority (BWA) officials (Nicole Austin of the Waste Water Unit and Joy-Ann Haigh Corporate Communication) on the Sunday talk show it prompted the blogmaster to have another listen to an earlier program of the 13 November 2017 with Patricia Inniss the manager of the Waste Water Division. It was evident that the Sunday program was rehearsed and scripted to deliver the message that the South Coast Sewage plant was being misused by consumers.

The following represents the blogmaster notes taken while having another listen to the 13 November 2017 talk show which featured Patricia Inniss the manager of the Waste Water Unit and a former DLP candidate.

Recording (numbers represent the approximate time of the comment on the recording)

3:50   – Inadequate management and maintenance

4:20   – proper cleaning required of outfall lines (financial constraints)

4:55  – better pipes for effluent required

5:24  – screw lift pumps problematic (under repair at the time of the show), trash pumps problematic – these pumps are important to   the process of screening extraneous matter from entering the system

6:25  – blockage detected in the sewage line between Graeme Hall Sanctuary and Republic Bank

Recording #2

1:40  – Serious concerns expressed by Mr. Harris for years about the state of the sewage plant

2:51  – Patricia Inniss authored a report detailing several issues which needed urgent attention by the BWA/government

5:58  – sewage plant neglected due to financial constraints

6:17  – a robust and sustained PR campaign recommended to educate Barbadians the use of the sewage plant

7:44  – retiring employees read knowledge drain/transfer a challenge

9:00  – waste water division regarded by the BWA as a ‘step-child’

10:48 – “An old system not maintained”

15:00 – Haigh points to capacity of the plant an issue which conflicts with the position of Andrew Hutchinson an engineer on a subsequent program.

17:00 – flow rates at the sewage plant were not being done before Innis assume the role of manager of the waste water unit

19:00 – a structure is now being implemented at he BWA to effectively deal with the issue

20:30 – no masterplan exist to manage waste water

23:00 – minister Estwick is fully apprised of the situation

35:00 – Ellis observes that the BWA owns a 50 million dollar building yet the sewage plant was starved of financial resources

Recording #3

6:50  – Drains in the Massy, Lucky Horse Shoe areas not cleared for years by the Drainage Unit, have become swamps

19:00 – there is a lack of maintenance of the grid chambers in Bridgetown (a potential next problem)

 

 

Featured image extracted from mJones blog

 

 

 

 

 

 

132 responses to “RH PR Spiel from BWA Conflicting with the TRUTH about the Sewage Plant”

  1. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    Why you want a free session from him

  2. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Lol…good one, the beer won.

    GP…look who turned up.

  3. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ lawson January 17, 2018 at 3:45 PM #
    “Why you want a free session from him..”

    We do enjoy your well camouflaged ‘off-color’ wit.

    You are a real dirty ‘harry’, indeed’; the real crown prince of BU ‘smutty’ jokes.

    Next time you might just confirm that to be a pope you must be a pedophile like Muhammad or a faggot like King James.

    ‘A man’s gotta [say] what a man’s gotta do’.

    Your colleague,

    Wild Man Steve.

  4. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Lol….Lawson is just like Sloppy Steve Bannon, he dont know what satire is, not even with all his dirty jokes…lol

  5. living in ignorance Avatar
    living in ignorance

    Wunna always talking a lot of SHITE on this blog about the USA.

    However look at this jobby in the Nations newspaper today.

    A man work a whole week fulltime 40hrs and only gets paid just over a BD$ hundred dollars.

    If he was in the USA doing the same cleaning at minimum wage US$8 / BD$16 in 1 days work he would make the BD$ 1 week equivalent, in Barbados slavery still going on.

    In a week of 40hrs he would be making 5 times as much,

    Barbados what a SHITHOLE island.

    http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/120427/matters-maria-danger-losing-home-job

  6. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    Someone should give Joyann Haigh an award and a muffin basket. She’s that good.

  7. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    And btw, after a couple days of not flowing, the swearage manholes are flowing again for past two days in Rendezvous. I find its occurring like from afternoon time because on mornings the manholes aint flow.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    @Kevin

    Award for what? Did she fix the sewage problem?

  9. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    The way she speaks, articulates and express herself can calm an angry beast. She is the only saving grace.

  10. ac Avatar
    ac

    Seems like the NUPW leadership have to go this time around on their own, the idiot leadership decided to strike and for the worst part the strikers would be out of a day or more wages. I hope Akanni does not go begging cup in hand for govt to pay the strikers as he did last time after the UNion coffers was empty and could not pay them
    i heard BWU said no dice but give word of mouth support only .

  11. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    living in ignorance January 17, 2018 at 8:24 PM #

    “A man work a whole week fulltime 40hrs and only gets paid just over a BD$ hundred dollars.”

    living in ignorance

    Could you indicate to me where in the article it was mentioned the guy worked “a whole week fulltime 40hrs,”…….or are you making a “presumptuous assumption?”

    How do you know if the guy was being intentionally untruthful by saying he received “a hundred and something a week” so as to gain sympathy?

    Additionally, if Barbados was “a SHITHOLE island,” the guy would not have the opportunity to say the “Welfare Department had been supporting him for a few years,” (he was receiving a national assistance grant at the expense of tax payers).

    Without knowing all the facts, you jump to an “uninformed conclusion”………… any reasonable individual would conclude you’re definitely “living in ignorance.”

  12. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Kevin January 18, 2018 at 6:58 PM #
    “Someone should give Joyann Haigh an award and a muffin basket. She’s that good.”

    Kevin, have you forgotten that quickly the GCM award which was earmarked for Joyann was ‘huffed’ by Stephanie ‘Muttley’ Lashley for micro-managing a mediocre low-keyed Carifesta screw-up?

    You are lucky he did not get a knighthood for being the big man’s sweet boy.
    Why do think he can take the liberties of writing to demand the St. John ‘easy’ riding even before the official abdication of the still grieving Queen consort?

    They say that a ‘lil’ Hitler man who bats right and bowls left makes a better all rounder than a wicker-keeper batswoman.

    That is why little Stephanie can never be on big Mama MIA’s case for not having an LEC (lesbian enjoying cock).

  13. Kevin Avatar
    Kevin

    @millertheanunnaki, what do you be talking?? Pssffttt.

  14. living in ignorance Avatar
    living in ignorance

    @ Artax you must have buried your head in the shithole sewage.

    Does not the average gas station attendant make for wages $200 Barbados weekly working at least 40hrs?

    A similar US minimum wage analogy would be the same worker making BD$16 per hour @ 40hrs per week BD$640 over 3 times as much.

    Cleaning staff and gas station attendants are among some of the lowest paid in BIM.

  15. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Kevin January 18, 2018 at 10:03 PM

    The same thing that is spewing from your electronic mouth already overflowing with bullshit to justify the existence of similar crap floating on the South coast.

    Why would you wish to promote bullshit talk and reward incompetence and mediocrity?

    But you do have point. The same way you should not discriminate in a meritocracy against people because of their race or gender so too in a ‘mediocracy’ like shithole Barbados where bullshit talk is handsomely rewarded and performance that can make a difference is scorned with contempt and rewarded with derision.

    The only person who should be ‘acknowledged’ in any rewarding way in this entire fiasco is ‘Hockey Donavan’ for speaking out against this terrible shame that has beset Barbados.

    How else could you explain the award of the GCM to a political nincompoop
    under whose watch the national stadium is now reminiscent of a makeshift enclosure to corral wild animals and the World Heritage Site called Bridgetown has been converted into a stinking rat hole?

    If you can’t see the difference between ‘he’ Stephen and ‘she’ Stephanie then you can’t smell the difference between your own breath and the odoriferous atmosphere prevailing near the swamp on the South coast.

    As a result, you are indeed entitled to a knighthood for your outstanding service to the DLP cesspool over the many years of dedicated collection at the back of a sewage truck owned by the No.1 man in the No.2 and 3 (talking bullshit like you) business.

  16. John Avatar
    John

    Kevin January 18, 2018 at 7:00 PM #
    And btw, after a couple days of not flowing, the swearage manholes are flowing again for past two days in Rendezvous. I find its occurring like from afternoon time because on mornings the manholes aint flow.
    +++++++++++++++++++++

    Possibly tides!!

    https://www.tide-forecast.com/locations/Bridgetown-Barbados/tides/latest

    Look at the graph, low tide in the morning, … for now.

  17. Tejay Avatar
    Tejay

    Thank you Dr. Hugh Sealy for your article in today’s Sunday Sun. A story has three side to it. The right, the wrong and the truth. Yours is the truth. Well put!!

  18. David Avatar
    David

    He is fairly scathing in his critique of the BWA and ministries of drainage and health. And he should know.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    Master plan for plant

    HUGH SEALY,

    Added 21 January 2018

    dr-hugh-sealy

    Dr Hugh Sealy (FILE)

    The South Coast Sewerage Project (SCSP) has been the subject of much national attention over the last year and, in particular, the last few months have witnessed a public health crisis unfold that has the potential to cause severe damage to the economy.

     

    As the former project director of the Sewerage and Solid Waste Project Unit from 1994 to 1997, with responsibility for overseeing the construction of the SCSP during that period, please allow me to provide some background to the need for the project, its design and construction under the Ministry of Health, and its subsequent operation and maintenance under the Barbados Water Authority (BWA). I will also propose some suggestions to address the current difficulty.

    The SCSP was conceptualised in the 1980s by the late Arthur Archer (former project director in the Ministry of Health) in response to two problems: (i) an overload of septage at the Bridgetown sewage treatment plant and (ii) deteriorating bathing beach water quality along the south coast. It should be noted that the Ministry of Health had responsibility for the construction of the plant, but its operation, management and maintenance, fell under the BWA, then located within the Ministry of Public Works, now within the Ministry of Agriculture.

    The system was designed to collect approximately 9 000 m3/day (two million imperial gallons per day) of wastewater from about 3 000 properties from Bay Street to Oistins, along the coast and some distance inland. There was excess capacity to allow for property growth in the area.

    The plant is designed to treat that waste water to advanced preliminary standards (screens with a mesh size of 2 mm (0.08 inches) at Graeme Hall, and then pump the treated wastewater through a 5-km (3.1 mile) force main to a marine outfall at Needham’s Point.

    A force main is a pipe through which waste water is pumped under pressure, instead of letting it flow by gravity. In this article, the terms wastewater and sewage are interchangeable, they mean the same thing – water discharged from toilets, sinks and baths in homes and businesses.

    The outfall was designed to be 1.1 km (0.7 mile) long, ending outside the bank reef at a depth of 38 metres (125 feet). This outfall site was chosen after extensive studies had shown that there are strong, predominantly offshore currents in that area. The choice of the outfall site dictated the level of treatment required.

    Construction of the sewerage system took place in four contract components. Contract 1, the Treatment Plant and Contract 3, the Outfall, were completed under my watch.  The sewage collection system, Contract 2, involved the construction of some 44 kilometers (~ 27 miles) of inter-connected sewers with 5 lift stations. The collection system and the individual property connections which comprised Contract 4, required the cooperation of property owners which was not always readily forthcoming. For a number of reasons, Contracts 2 and 4 of the project took longer than was originally projected.

    The property connections component of the project was completed sometime around 2003, when the system would have been tested and commissioned and handed over to the BWA. Throughout the design and construction phase, the BWA assigned a senior engineer to the project unit to represent the utility’s interests and provide continuity into the operational phase.

    The SCSP was designed and built to international specifications with IDB oversight and funding. It also went through several review stages which would have included Town Planning and the Coastal Zone Management Unit. There has recently been some discussion about whether a primary or tertiary treatment plant should have been chosen. The level of treatment required is dependent upon where the treated effluent will be discharged. Primary or advanced preliminary treatment is an acceptable international method, if linked to a long marine outfall that discharges the treated wastewater outside of sensitive areas. and that is what the IDB was prepared to fund at the time.

    The plant was built with the capacity to upgrade to tertiary treatment. At tertiary level, the treated water is approaching potable standards.  Indeed, the technology now exists to turn sewage into safe drinking water. The barriers to implementing this approach are more cultural than technical.

    That is the background, now to the current problems, as it appears that there are more than one.

    It is my understanding that the two screw-lift pumps that carried the raw sewage into the plant at Graeme Hall for treatment, began to lose efficiency in 2014 and could no longer lift all of the incoming sewage to the top of the plant.  From 2014 onwards, some, if not all, of the sewage has been diverted around the treatment plant and discharged without treatment through the force main and outfall at Needham’s.

    Up to 100 per cent of the sewage continued to be diverted without treatment until 2016 when a partially successful attempt was made to fix one of the screw-lift pumps. However, apparently, no further maintenance work on the partially rehabilitated pump nor on the second damaged pump was conducted in 2017.

    This has resulted in raw sewage continuing to move through the malfunctioning system and the outfall. Neither the force main nor the outfall, was designed to take raw sewage, only treated (screened) effluent with particles less than 2 mm in diameter. Treatment of all of the sewage has, apparently, not been taking place for three years.  It is quite possible that the force main and/or marine outfall has been damaged and is now, either partially blocked or has sprung a leak. A recent dye test by the BWA might have confirmed this, but I don’t have access to those data. I will come back to this force main when I get to my recommendations.

    In addition to the damaged inlet pumps, it is my understanding that the screens at the plant have corroded and have not been replaced. Therefore, even the portion of wastewater that might be still going to the plant may not be receiving the treatment the plant was designed to provide.

    After construction, the system was commissioned and handed over to the BWA within performance specifications.  As I have outlined, the system may have been operated, outside of its design specifications for the last several years and it was inevitable that it would fail if operated that way.

    A second compounding problem appears to be what has been getting into and potentially blocking the sewers, which is everything that people could possibly throw down the sink or into the toilet. The BWA has responded with an education programme for connected residences and businesses. (HS)

      http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/122032/master-plan-plant

    • Artax Avatar
      Artax

      You have not failed to live up to your “name” re: “living in ignorance,” because in your quest to “discredit” Barbados, you purposely (or conveniently) refused to accept the main point.

      The article DID NOT MENTION if the guy WORKED 40hrs, 24hrs or 16hrs PER WEEK or what was his RATE of PAY PER HOUR.

      And unless you have an INTIMATE KNOWLEDGE of the guy’s situation……… and his PAY SLIPS…… your conclusion is essentially based on an UNINFORMED ASSUMPTION.

      Additionally, your reference to USA gas station attendants and their rate per hour is IRRELEVANT and more so because it does not SUBSTANTIATE your silly assumption re: that, as a CLEANER, the “man work a whole week fulltime 40hrs and only gets paid just over a BD$ hundred dollars.”

    • Dr. Simple Simon Avatar
      Dr. Simple Simon

      https://bb.usembassy.gov/health-alert-u-s-embassy-bridgetown-january-25-2018/

      Health Alert:

      Location: Barbados

      Event: Recent tests at several U.S. Embassy residences revealed bacteria at elevated levels in the tap water. As a precautionary measure, the U.S. Embassy recommended to its staff to boil their drinking water or use bottled water. The U.S. Embassy will continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates accordingly.

      Actions to Take:

      Follow the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) directions on how to stay healthy and safe, which include guidance on safe drinking and eating

    • Dr. Simple Simon Avatar
      Dr. Simple Simon

      Any bet the British and Canadians are going to issue their own “boil Barbados tap water” notices just now.

      And since U.S. Embassy officials do not live in segregated communities, what about the water of their immediate non-American neighbours?

      Is that water safe to drink?

      And what standard for safe drinking water are the Americans using.

      Centers for Disease Control Standard?

      World Health Organization Standard?

      So many questions.

      So few answers.

    • Theophilius Gazerts 256 Avatar
      Theophilius Gazerts 256

      Definitely not ‘Bajan Standard”

    • Dr. Simple Simon Avatar
      Dr. Simple Simon

      @Georgie Porgie January 17, 2018 at 3:21 PM “None of them is Prof Sir Harry, Prof Sir George, Prof Sir Albert, Prof Sir Errol or Sir Harold Ellis… LOUIS TULL OR JOHHNY CHELTENHAM OR LINDEY BOLDEN OR TEDDY WALCOTT”

      What a great bunch of journalists.

      Lol!!!

      And Sarah Huckabee Sanders is NOT a journalist.

    • Dr. Simple Simon Avatar
      Dr. Simple Simon

      @Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service January 17, 2018 at 10:44 AM “who knows how many worms and parasites Kellman swallowed when he made this big able youtube video with himself drinking water straight from the tap.”

      Why do you make it seem like a bad thing if a politician happens to swallow worms and parasites?

    • Hants Avatar
      Hants

      ” Recent tests at several U.S. Embassy residences revealed bacteria at elevated levels in the tap water.

      As a precautionary measure, the U.S. Embassy recommended to its staff to boil their drinking water or use bottled water. ”

      HAS THE BAJAN PUBLIC BEEN ALERTED TO THIS .

      IS THERE A BOIL WATER RECCOMENDATION FOR BAJANS ?

    • Georgie Porgie Avatar
      Georgie Porgie

      simon
      why you like to harrass my tail?
      i said very clearly WHEN I SAY THAT “None of them is Prof Sir Harry, Prof Sir George, Prof Sir Albert, Prof Sir Errol or Sir Harold Ellis, author of two texts we read at UWI in my day!- one in Anatomy and the other in Surgery!” I AM SAYING THAT ONLY SUCH MEN ARE/WERE WORTHY OF QUESTIONING ME ABOUT MEDICINE …

      my medical teachers and examiners in med school
      and I referred also to leading lawyers who questioned me in the courts of Barbados between 1980-2000

    • Bush Tea Avatar
      Bush Tea

      How would bacteria in the tap water affect Bajan brass bowls Hants?

      If we have been unaffected by CLICO, CAHILL, VECO; the Speaker unfairing an old man in a wheel chair; a Minister with a $5M mother; Lawyers charging $750,000 for reading a shiite document; Butch pissing on Paradise and then shitting in Dover; Froon building a $7m monument to Lucifer on the Garrison; Estwick f***ing up the sugar industry, the water supply and now the sewerage system; Stinkliar creating conditions for illegal dumping of refuse in cart roads, and taxing Bajans into poverty…
      What the hell can a few shiite bacteria in the drinking water do us…?

      No wonder they never bothered to warn locals about the contamination, they think that we are immune to shiite by now.

    • Dr. Simple Simon Avatar
      Dr. Simple Simon

      @Hants January 25, 2018 at 10:16 PM “HAS THE BAJAN PUBLIC BEEN ALERTED TO THIS.”

      http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/123518/us-embassy-issues-caution-regarding-bacteria-tap-water
      US Embassy issues caution regarding bacteria in tap water
      The United States Embassy in Barbados says recent tests at several US Embassy residences here have revealed “elevated levels” of bacteria in the tap water.
      In a notice posted on its website, the Embassy recommended that its staff boil their drinking water or use bottled water. The Embassy said it would continue to monitor the situation and will provide updates accordingly. It also advised its citizens to follow the directions of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on how to stay healthy and safe. Last week Acting Deputy Chief Environmental Health Officer Ronald Chapman said the Ministry of Health was not taking any chances and would ensure chlorine levels in the water remained at those recommended by the World Health Organisation.

    • Dr. Simple Simon Avatar
      Dr. Simple Simon

      @Hants January 25, 2018 at 10:16 PM “HAS THE BAJAN PUBLIC BEEN ALERTED TO THIS.”

      https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2018/01/25/not-safe-2/

      Not safe
      US embassy tells staff don’t drink tap water
      Despite repeated assurances from the Ministry of Health that drinking water on the south coast has not been affected by the ongoing sewage spill, the United States has issued a health alert to its staff here, advising that the tap water is simply not safe for consumption.

      In a statement posted on the US embassy website, the Americans said they had conducted tests recently on the tap water and had found “elevated levels” of bacteria.

      “Recent tests at several US Embassy residences revealed bacteria at elevated levels in the tap water. As a precautionary measure, the US Embassy recommended to its staff to boil their drinking water or use bottled water,” the alert, posted late this afternoon, said, without specifying the locations of the residences where the tests were conducted.

      The embassy said it would continue to monitor the situation and provide updates accordingly.

      However, it advised its staff to follow the Centers for Disease Control directions on how to stay healthy and safe, which include guidance on safe drinking and eating.

      Today’s advisory directly contradicts Minster of Health John Boyce, who touched on the issue during a Democratic Labour Party (DLP) branch meeting at Lawrence T Gay School over the weekend.

      Boyce told party faithful the ministry had conducted weekly tests on both the seawater and drinking water in the area, and had determined that the near-shore water quality was normal and potable water was safe to drink.

      In addition, he stressed that samples collected from kitchen surfaces showed no abnormal bacteria.

      “In due time, the Barbados Water Authority will be issuing appropriate information to the people of Barbados for you to be sure that your health is taken care of and that we are capable of controlling the incidents of any diseases because of the situation,” Boyce said, adding that the ministry was not into any cover-up schemes.

      “If there is any change into that circumstance, you, the public, will be the first to know,” he added.

      When asked to comment on the latest development this afternoon, Boyce told Barbados TODAY he had been at meetings all day and had only had a glimpse of the advisory after it was forwarded to him by Acting Chief Medical Officer Dr Anton Best.

      Therefore, the minister said, he was not prepared to respond at the moment, adding that he would be conferring with Dr Best and other officials from the Ministry of Health tomorrow on the matter.

      “I was in Cabinet for most the day but as I was driving home the alert from the US embassy was forwarded to me. I have not had a chance to speak with them on the issue but I would be doing so in the morning,” Boyce said.

      This is the fourth time that Barbados has been hit with warnings and travel advisories linked to the sewage spill since the start of the year, with Canada, the US and the United Kingdom issuing travel advisories in the space of three days, warning their citizens to avoid areas impacted by the effluent overflows.

      While none of the countries had advised against travelling to Barbados, but simply to “take normal security precautions” while here, Washington had called on its citizens to “avoid water activities in the affected areas” on the south coast between St Lawrence Gap and Hastings, and to “beware of sewage on the street”.

      In a swift reaction to the latest alert, former Minister of Health Elizabeth Liz Thompson described the situation as “a national disgrace”, and called on Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, as well as the ministers responsible for health, water resource management, the environment, business and tourism to “indicate what type, level and frequency of random testing of the water quality of residential and commercial properties in the affected area is being conducted to determine if there is any intrusion of bacteria or other compromise of the potable water or water system”.

      “If the sewage is visible above ground and is bubbling up through any space available, it must be worse underground where water pipes are located,” Thompson posted on the Barbados TODAY Facebook page.

      How much more international embarrassment and real risk to health, safety, the economy and wellbeing, will the country and its nationals have to bear for this Government to act in the national interest, or even condescend to answer a national who is raising legitimate issues?

      “The south coast needs this type of testing if the public is to be protected,” she wrote.

    • Dr. Simple Simon Avatar
      Dr. Simple Simon

      @Georgie Porgie January 25, 2018 at 10:19 PM “simon why you like to harrass my tail?”

      Maybe I just like you…but shhhhh….don’t let the madam know.

      Lol!

    • Hants Avatar
      Hants

      @ Bush Tea,

      They will soon tell the public it is good bacteria ( probiotics ) in the water.

      Importers of bottled water are going to make a lot of money.

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