Hyatt Ziva Project: Water consumption concerns

Speaking to those on hand about storm water, sewage and drainage impact was Chris Bellamy of Atlantic Engineering, at the Hyatt Ziva Project town hall meeting at the Copacabana. Bellamy outlined the drainage system for the proposed hotel and sewage plans, along with various upgrades to the current drainage system in the area.

His presentation brought to light issues regarding the additional workload that would be placed on the Bridgetown Sewage Plant in Fontabelle as well as the high water consumption that the large hotel would pull from the already low water stores of the island.

“In addition to this hotel to the system, even at 100% occupancy ... the additional flow provided would be 164,000 gallons per day.”

When questioned about if the expected 164,000 gallons would come from the local water reservoirs, Bellamy replied “yes” initially, but then stated that 67,000 gallons would be reused per day through recycling used water back into the system.

What was more appalling to one lady who stood to question the data, was that the rainfall data used in the research gathered from the Barbados Meteorological Services, regarding the impact the hotel would have on the current water table, was from 50 years ago.

Present also was Carla Daniel of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project, who also was alarmed at the volume of water used per room, per day.

“Three hundred and thirty-one gallons of water in a single room in one day just seems like a horrifically, excessive amount for a country where water is scarce. You have not mentioned the desalination plant, so I am assuming it is regular water, but regardless, having systems in place to reduce that amount of water as opposed to treating it on the back end after all the water has already been utilised, would make a whole lot of sense,” she outlined.

Daniel said that more mitigation can be done and referenced modern hotel designs which use toilet flushing systems where the water used on the floors above from showers and sinks, flush the toilets on the floors below, making use of the used water before it leaves the building to be recycled back in.

Another question was asked about the method in which the data was presented regarding the impact on the sewage plant. The presentation stated that the hotel would see a 1.6% rise in sewage because of the quantity of effluent produced. The issue raised was that the 1.6% rise was all well and good, however the calculation that the plant would be at most working at 50% capacity on the design build was an error as it should have been calculated on functioning build. It was also revealed by Bellamy that the design capacity was for a system which was installed in the 1980’s.

Bellamy did however present some positives, which were accepted by the crowd. He highlighted that the current drainage system was small, not in very good condition and not well maintained, but the proposed drainage system would boost and create better drainage for the area, including Bay Street and the surrounding businesses. (AS)

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