Temporary solution
Government is set to construct an eight-inch temporary outfall off of Graeme Hall where the effluent from the South Coast Sewage Plant will be pumped.
Word of this has come from Minister of Energy and Water Resources, Wilfred Abrahams, during a press conference yesterday morning at his Country Road office, as he revealed that the cost of that project will be in the vicinity of $2.4 million. He told media personnel present that the work on the outfall is expected to start in another two weeks, and once all goes well it should take two months to complete.
His remarks came as he made it clear that this was only a temporary solution as Government does not want to put the sewage out to sea at that point long term. Abrahams explained that while it is unlikely to affect the beaches, they also do not want to take any chances.
The Water Resources Minister pointed out that the outfall is necessary as the injection wells – which he said should really be classified as disposal wells – were an expensive undertaking, some $3.4 million, but have not achieved much.
He also told the media that they are at this stage also unsure as to the depth of any of the six wells.
“We do not have injection wells at the South Coast Sewage Plant, we have some deep wells, we don’t know how deep, we have yet been able to determine how deep the wells are and this is something that is causing us great concern, because the wells were expensive to dig. We have no comparative quote, no three quotes were offered, we don’t know if anybody would have offered a better quote in Barbados [and] there is no written contract for the digging of the wells,” the minister indicated.
Minister Abrahams added that while the wells were touted as the only solution by the previous administration, the current Government felt from the start that the wells were not the only solution and certainly could not be a long term fix to the problem. He lamented that the former Government had in essence put all its eggs in one basket and he described the decision as a reckless one. He further contended that it was “a bit hasty” to create the wells and not look at other possible solutions.
“We came in and found one solution on the table with the wells already having been dug and it made no sense to do anything else other than utilise those as the first option while exploring the other options that needed to be explored… The wells worked for a little while, but as expected the wells failed,” he explained.
As a result, he indicated that when the wells became clogged, the South Coast Sewage Plant had no other option than to send the overflow into the canals on the sides of Graeme Hall Swamp, which he said were built for emergency situations like this. He spoke to that as he revealed that the wells are earmarked for cleaning, and during that process, efforts will be made to determine the depth of each well. (JRT)