Update | NEPA says Christmas Eve fish kill in St Catherine contained

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is reporting that a small fish kill that occurred in a section of the Rio Cobre in St Catherine on Sunday is now contained.

In a statement today, NEPA said in investigating the incident, in which approximately 50 fish were seen floating on the river on Christmas morning, it was discovered that the pollution was due to a malfunctioning National Water Commission (NWC) sewage treatment plant at Charlemont in St Catherine.

The agency said the defective plant caused untreated sewage to be emitted into the Old John's Gully which flows into the river.

NEPA said the NWC has since corrected the problem, which was due to a power outage at the plant.

Arising from this incident, NEPA said it will be serving the NWC with an enforcement notice tomorrow December 27 to outline specific terms to which the entity must comply.

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