Public health danger at Kingston Harbour

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I would like to bring to the attention of the relevant authorities a clear and future danger to public health in the Kingston Harbour. As a purely recreational user, I have noticed increasingly in recent years a faecal odour while boating in the harbour. I have heard from others that some persons who live along the banks of various gullies dispose of their faecal waste by tossing it in plastic bags (among other refuse) into these gullies, to be washed into the harbour by heavy rains! It would be interesting to see how many plastic bags are recovered from the dredging operations by KFTL, giving a rough guestimate of the public health threat posed by this disgusting habit.

In the early 1950s, as a recent high school graduate, I worked as a labourer doing depth soundings for the company doing the runway extension of the Norman Manley International Airport. I suggested to the firm to create an ‘inflow’ culvert at the head of the Palisadoes isthmus, allowing for a constant ‘flushing’ effect of the harbour.

Of course, being a schoolboy, no one listened.

R.I. WONG