Stench from Greenwich Town sewage plant disrupting school

Residents of Greenwich Town in St Andrew South Western are hoping that rehabilitation works will be carried out soon at the sewage treatment plant in their community to bring an end to years of torment from the stench it emanates.

“From mi born and grow, a so it stay and it get more degraded,” a 52-year-old resident from a section of the community called Boat Island lamented last week, expressing concern that the odour, which often blankets the community, could be a health hazard.

“You will find pickney have asthma inna di place. Nuh care how yuh think it nuh affect you, it maybe nuh affect you right now, but after a while, it must affect you,” he told The Gleaner.

A man who gave his name only as Winston, who lives on Union Avenue in Greenwich Town, disclosed that he had to rush his two grandchildren to the hospital just a few weeks ago because of how much the foul air was affecting them.

“It mek dem feel bad, and it mek dem vomit. Mi haffi carry dem go a Children’s,” he said, referring to the Bustamante Hospital for Children.

His asthmatic neighbour, Marva Tomlinson, said she, too, has to make frequent visits to the health centre because of the situation, but she is more concerned about the effects it is having on the children in the community.

“Mi haffi guh a clinic all di while. Dem need fi keep down di smell. The school deh so near and a likkle pickney dem a go deh,” she said.

VERY, VERY BAD

Acting principal at the Greenwich Primary School, Andrea Richards, said that classes are often disrupted by the stench and by the noise from trucks passing by.

“The sewage plant is a nuisance,” Richards, who has been at the institution for more than 30 years, told The Gleaner.

“When it (scent) rises, every teacher has to stop and cover their nose; the children also,” she said. “Sometimes it is so bad that we have to spray something. It has been affecting us over the years, but since we have been back September, it has been very, very bad.”

Richards said that no student had complained of any illness possibly linked to the plant, but nevertheless, she was concerned about the long-term effect it could have on them and is calling for an intervention.

“If it’s not gonna be moved, lessen the smell. There must be something that can be placed in it so that the smell is kept down and doesn’t affect us so much here,” she said.

But 25-year-old Oneil Williams is not optimistic that anything will be done to address the issue.

“If it can be dealt with, that can be great, but we been hearing seh dem a go upgrade it fi quite some time and a years now. All now, no form of action. Nothing,” he said.

HOPING FOR RELIEF

With a section of the National Water Commission (NWC)-operated Greater Portmore sewage treatment plant getting a recent $935-million upgrade, the residents are hopeful that they will also get some relief.

With minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Matthew Samuda, sharing at the commissioning of the upgraded facility that the Government plan to invest more in sewage management, they hope their facility is on the list of those to be addressed.

Asked if the plant was among those being eyed for upgrades, NWC Corporate Public Relations Manager Andrew Canon told The Gleaner that the state agency had decommissioned the plant and that the site is now a conveyancing point for the sewage to go to the Soapberry Treatment Plant.

“Improving the site is an ongoing process,” he said.

However, St Andrew South Western Member of Parliament Dr Angela Brown Burke told The Gleaner that she was not aware that the plant had been decommissioned by the NWC.

“For a long time, it has been what they call just a dumping site. So they come, they dump, and I don’t know if it’s treated or not, and then it goes wherever it goes. But that is still not sufficient because there is very little management of the trucks that come,” she said.

Brown Burke said that she has been lobbying for changes to be made to the plant and has received numerous promises from NWC, including having the trucks emptied in a covered area, which would prevent the stench from diffusing.

Now, she plans to look into other legal ways of dealing with the issue.

“I had planned, when I speak again ... in Parliament, for it to be the last time I speak because I am in the process of talking to someone to see what other remedies we have through the courts, through NEPA (the National Environment and Planning Agency) because it is unbearable,” she told The Gleaner. “I believe the NWC is playing games in terms of the commitment that they gave to deal with it, and it’s really not getting any better.”

sashana.small@gleanerjm.com