‘We can’t breathe!’ - Nightingale Grove residents complain of raw sewage flowing in their community

Residents of Nightingale Grove in St Catherine are being plagued with a sewage problem that is causing grave health concerns to them.

The prevailing narrative from the residents of the more than 200 housing units is that a malfunctioning treatment plant attached to the development is the contributory factor, and it is further compounded whenever there is heavy rains.

Complaining to The Gleaner, the residents cited the issue of raw sewage flowing on some streets in the community and into their homes, and their unsuccessful efforts to get the National Water Commission (NWC), which is responsible for the treatment plant, to respond to their complains.

Rojelle Hanson, who lives on Cedar Avenue, the most affected street, told The Gleaner that the sewage is flowing from at least three homes situated on that road.

‘It is very bad’

“It is very bad. It has gotten worse since the recent flood rains, and the treatment plant that serves the community has stopped working. We are having difficulty breathing as a result of the stench, and we are calling on the authorities to remedy the problem now,” she said.

Nadine Burke said the problem has gotten so bad that if she had somewhere to go, she would leave the community.

“I am fearful that there will be an outbreak of some form of disease soon if they don’t correct the problem. I am having breathing problems, and the mosquito infestation caused by the sewage water is a major concern to all of us; children cannot go outside to play because of this,” she told The Gleaner.

Madge King said she cannot venture into her yard because sewage water has settled on the property and has become a breathing site for mosquitoes.

Another resident, Gloria Parker, said she had to leave her house and move to Kingston to stay with family members because her toilet is flooded out with raw sewage.

Meanwhile, acting senior public relations officer at the NWC, Ann Gold, when contacted, told The Gleaner that the NWC was just made aware of the issue on Tuesday and sent out a team to rectify the problem.

“Even though there are some challenges with the pump at the facility, the main cause of the problem was the continuous rainfall that caused excess storm water to flow into the system.”

Gold said the problem was dealt with on Thursday and the system is functional once again.

In the meantime, when contacts were made with the residents on Friday afternoon, they told The Gleaner that they had not started to see the improvements.