Drain in May Pen a disaster waiting to happen - NWA says it will take $34m to fix the problem

President of the May Pen Chamber of Commerce, Winsome Witter, says urgent attention needs to be paid to a problematic drain in the heart of the town.

In an interview with The Gleaner, she referred to the drain as “a disaster waiting to happen” and wants the problem to be fixed now.

“It is extremely bad because it is hazardous to health, and it is just across from the library, in the vicinity of the police station. It compromises the health of the citizens and we are extremely concerned about that, because there are a number of businesses in that vicinity as well,” stressed Witter.

Witter pointed out that business owners have to conduct their affairs, but because of the stench from the drain, there is the potential for them to lose customers as there are other alternatives in the town.

A clean-up was done recently, but according to Witter, that is like “putting Band-Aid on a sore” as it is just not sustainable.

“At this point, what we are calling for is a more sustainable approach. They have been doing cleaning over the years to make it bearable for a while, but we need to find a more sustainable measure for a permanent fix,” she said.

Lillieth Royal Wright, president of the Development Area Committee, said she has had it with the stench coming from the drain, and she is concerned about the really bad overflow on the road.

CONSTANT SOURCE OF DISCOMFORT

“We need a permanent fix, because the health implications of this is really frightening,” she said.

The Gleaner asked Stephen Shaw, communication and customer services manager at the National Works Agency, what the agency plans to do about the problem. He agreed with the complainants that the drain is a constant source of discomfort for all the commuters who traverse the town of May Pen.

He said the drain was cleaned on June 19, using the agency’s drain-cleaning machine.

“The issue is that all the waste water from the town of May Pen enters this drain. To compound the matter, there is a 100mm (four inches) diameter pipe embedded in the wall of the drain that empties waste water from the police station into the drain,” he said, adding that persons contribute to be problem by constantly dumping garbage in the drain.

Shaw said plastic bottles, styrofoam cups and boxes, juice boxes, syringes, and just about any form of solid waste you can imagine had been removed – contributing factors to the drain always being blocked.

“We went as far as to have a grating placed over the drain, only to see a section of the grating removed. The ultimate fix is to extend the drain to the river that runs under the May Pen Bridge. The preliminary estimate to have it done is approximately $34 million,” he said.

And for Witter, that is the ultimate solution she is looking for because the drain can be a breeding site for mosquitoes, compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. “We must deal with it now,” she said.