Permanent Outfall best

RESIDENTS, business owners in Worthing and surrounding areas as well as other concerned Barbadians, were given a first-hand look into plans to construct a Permanent Outfall earmarked for the South Coast Sewerage System during a Town Hall meeting held by the Barbados Water Authority in association with Baird & Associates on Monday night.

Held at the Hawthorn Memorial Church, those in attendance were guided through the multi-million dollar plan by Dave Anglin, Consultant of Baird & Associates, who informed the audience of the need to place the permanent outfall at Worthing, moving away from the temporary solution at the Needham’s Point Outfall.

While going through the major findings and considerations of the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Anglin briefed the residents on the projected time schedule, the proposed works on the land and seaside and the environmental management and a social management plans. He also highlighted the Construction Site Management Plan, the latter of which will include a Community Relations programme and a grievance redress mechanism.

Residents posed a number of questions related to construction time, potential destruction of marine life, consideration of the tides and wave action, mosquitoes, the health of the Grame Hall swamp, the structural integrity of the pipe and even offered alternatives on where the pipe could be placed.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Town Hall meeting after a power outage just around 8pm, BWA’s technical advisor Dr. John Mwansa told members of the media that the permanent outfall has been chosen because it is the least disruptive and most cost effective option.

“We have chosen the least disruptive in terms of disrupting the environment, the businesses as well as the traffic and methodology for inserting the permanent outfall. Additionally, it is the least cost option based on the alternatives that we have looked at. We are expecting that it will be provide the solution that is needed for a more permanent solution because it will be strong enough to withstand hurricanes which the temporary outfall is not designed to do.”

“It is the permanent solution for dealing with the effluent from the plant. The permanent solution to all the problems that we had on the sewage system includes the upgrading of the Sewage Treatment Plant to tertiary treatment level, where we will be producing a quality of water which you could use to irrigate agricultural crops as well as recharge the aquifer.”

Dr. Mwansa explained that from the beach, the pipe is designed to go out 800 metres and will come out below the ground and onto the sea bed. After that an additional 250 meters of diffuser line will be added. In total the length of the outfall will be one kilometre.

He explained that the award of contract should be granted by January 31, followed by a mobilisation period between February and April where the contractors will plan all their logistics, import all the equipment that they require as well as procure the pipes and fittings that are required.

“Construction will physically start from May and hopefully we should finish by October, subject to weather... Remember, we will be in the hurricane season. So if we have disturbances we may have to delay some of the work but the intention is that is a four month window for construction and we should be completed by then.” (JH)