Estwick outlines sewage problems
Minister of Water Resource Management, Dr. David Estwick has hinted that sabotage could be the reason why sewage is still spilling into the streets on the South Coast.
Estwick, the candidate for St. Philip West, was speaking on Sunday night as the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) launched its 2018 election campaign “Do D Ting! Vote DEMS.” He revealed that four of the six deep injection wells proposed to help address the sewage problems are complete, but that the “catastrophic failure” of a piece of a equipment prevented the draining of the sewage system recently.
He told the crowd of thousands gathered on the outskirts of the National Stadium, that the wells the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) has proposed have his full support. His comments came as he said that diverting sewage to such deep injection wells, is done in other jurisdictions here in the region and elsewhere and he has confidence in the technical staff of the BWA to get the job done.
“We consulted with engineers in Canada, engineers in America, engineers all about the place... and the recommendation was we should use deep injections wells that are used in the Bahamas, in Florida, in North Carolina, in Canada and Europe; and the wells were to be used to divert the sewage so we could drain the system and when it drains you could then go down in there and fix it,” he said.
However, Estwick hinting at sabotage, announced that when attempts were made to make the four wells operational, – which were finished last week – moving to connect the pipes to the pumps and drain the system, there was a catastrophic failure of a screw lift “all of a sudden”.
His comments came as he again defended the DLP Administration’s handling of the South Sewage Plant problems, contending that the challenges being experienced are not the fault of the present government, but due to the poor construction of the plant, which resulted in its collapse. He maintained that the problems with the plant have nothing to do with maintenance, but instead the collapse of the distribution plant, which is located 15 feet under the ground.
“If you go on the coast and dig five feet down you find water. All of the sewage pipes are 11 feet down, 20 feet down covered in water. The sewage pipes, there are two – one carrying sewage to the plant and one carrying sewage from the plant. The two of them are encased in concrete... and no connections at all,” he said.
His remarks came as he said that dye testing showed that there is a break between the two sewage lines and he said that could only happen if the foundation of the distribution lines has been destroyed.
“They walk up and down the country trying to blame the Democratic Labour Party for the problems when in fact the problems actually started from the beginning....”
“You may not remember when the South Coast Sewage Project was started in 1997; by 1999 they had to fire one of the contractors for bad work… They fired them because they were having problems in the same site that we are now having the issues,” he stated.
Meanwhile, turning his attention to proposals put forward by the Barbados Labour Party, including shutting down the system and paying wages to the affected businesses, he dismissed the suggestions.
“I want Mia to answer two questions. Mia, seven million gallons of sewage go to the plant everyday, in order to fix the plant you got to drain the system… where are you going to put seven million gallons of sewage everyday?”
“I want you to tell Barbadians, because you attacked me and my ministry and I will not sit idle for it.
Tell Barbadians where you would put seven million gallons of sewage coming everyday in order to start a dig?”