Plan to install tanks to hold sewage

As raw sewage continues to run onto one of the South Coast’s most popular beaches, the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) is looking at possibly installing fiberglass tanks to contain the flow of the effluent.

This has been revealed by BWA contractor Philip Allsopp, who found himself the centre of attention on Tuesday as directors of the Future Centre Trust met with technical experts Andrew Hutchinson and Dr Adrian Cashman to discuss the problem-plagued South Coast Sewerage Project.

It’s now been two years that raw sewage has been seeping into the roads and onto properties in a number of areas, from Graeme Hall to Hastings. The latest incident to be highlighted was occurring at the popular Accra Beach where a vendor said the sewage had been coming from a canal and running into the sea since last November. That vendor has taken to damming the sewage to prevent its flow into the water.

 Allsopp said the BWA recognised the entire problem was a crisis and that it was a priority.

“We have got raw sewage flowing directly into Accra,” he said as he revealed other BWA officers and he visited the spot recently to access the situation.

“What is planned is to put some fibreglass tanks there to hold the sewage and then remove it. But in terms of money, we have to get quotations, at least three quotations, and then get the money.”

He explained they would either be 1 500-gallon or 2 000-gallon tanks and would be emptied every day, or more often, depending on the volume of sewage collected,” he told Hutchinson, Cashman, trust chairman Vivian-Anne Gittens and director Barney Gibbs.

The BWA’s hierarchy, which has described the issue as a national crisis, has identified a blockage in the area of RT’s Discount as the culprit. It has started work on what have become highly controversial injection wells to hold the sewage while the engineers fix the problem. (HLE)