NWC to begin work on Greenwich Farm sewage site to reduce odour

The National Water Commission (NWC) says it will begin work on the Greenwich Farm sewage site in St Andrew starting next month to reduce the unpleasant stench from the facility. 

Residents have voiced complaints that the odour which blankets the community could be a health hazard.

Recently, acting principal at the Greenwich Primary School, Andrea Richards, told The Gleaner that classes are often disrupted by the unpleasant stench from the site. 

READ: Stench from Greenwich Town sewage plant disrupting school

The NWC has since disclosed that the site has been decommissioned and is now a conveyance point for the sewage to go to the Soapberry Treatment Plant.

In a letter addressed to the Member of Parliament for St Andrew South Western, Dr Angela Brown Burke, the state agency outlined a detailed plan of action to address the odour concern. 

It said it had already engaged the service of a long reach excavator to uncover one of the four tanks so that measurements and calculations can be done.

This, the agency said, will improve operations of the site. 

And starting next month, the NWC said it will solicit the services of a design engineer to configure the gravity feed flow from the Soapberry inlet chambers to the tanks and if needed, the wet well. 

The wet well is the actual dump location.

Service should include costing for cleaning of the tanks, wet well and carting of debris off-site to an approved dump site. 

The design of pumping sewage to return the sewage should be included.

A design engineer will also be engaged to retrofit the digester into a cesspool dump bay, primary clarifier and a pre-biological treatment tank. 

Over the next two to six months, the NWC will also employ the service of a construction engineering company to undertake works that will include establishing boundaries and erecting a proper fence with an entrance gate to control improper/illegal dumping at night. 

It noted that indiscipline by truckers is a contributing factor to the odour as at times there is overflow and spillage. 

These measures, the NWC, said should cause a significant reduction in the odour from the site. 

-  Sashana Small

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