More schools can benefit from wastewater treatment project, says Scientific Research Council
Published:Monday | March 25, 2024 | 8:01 PM
The Scientific Research Council (SRC) is encouraging more schools to take advantage of the entity's wastewater treatment project.
Under the initiative, the SRC designs and implements environmentally friendly treatment plants to reduce the harmful effects of untreated effluent on the environment.
Marketing and Corporate Communications Manager at the SRC, Carolyn Rose Miller, said that in order to benefit, institutions must first express an interest to the SRC, then a feasibility assessment will be done to determine the way forward in implementing the system.
“The SRC will provide technical support, but it goes way beyond just implementing a system. So, we are also inviting private-sector partnerships to make these projects possible,” she noted.
Currently, Carron Hall High School in St Mary is the only institution that is taking advantage of the wastewater treatment system.
In 2019, the school was gifted with a biodigester by the SRC in partnership with Digicel Foundation, Food For the Poor Jamaica, American Friends of Jamaica and Caribbean Broilers Group Limited.
With a dimension of 20 cubic metres, the biodigester effectively treats the waste of animals housed in the school's piggery.
The waste treatment process is also used to teach students how to produce organic fertiliser, provide irrigation for crops and biogas that is utilised as fuel.
Rose Miller is encouraging other schools to follow suit. She said that like Carron Hall High, educational facilities can use the by-products of the treatment system to reduce their operational costs.
“There are many ways that we can work together to make science and technology work for you. We have a long-standing relationship with schools [across the island]. As long as a school is interested all they have to do is reach out to us,” Rose Miller said.
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