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There is no raw sewage being pumped from the University of the
West Indies (UWI) Sewage Treatment Plant. This is the finding of a
report published by the National Environment and Planning Agency
(NEPA), in collaboration with the Environmental Health Unit of the
Ministry of Health and the Kingston and St. Andrew (KSA) Public Health
Department. The report was done in response to a claim made by the
mayor of Kingston, Desmond McKenzie, at a press briefing on Tuesday,
July 12. NEPA and the Environmental Health Unit conduct regular
monitoring activities at the plant.
Following an investigation, two days later, which
included a visit to the site, results revealed that the UWI Treatment
Plant satisfied most requirements of the Immediate Technology Based
Effluent Standards for sewage treatment plants which pre-dates the
Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Permits and Licence
Regulations 1996. The Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) standard,
however, was slightly above normal but the team concluded that the
effluent from the plant is being treated.
Errol Matthie of the Environmental Health Unit
said that the standard for BOD and Total Suspended Solids (TSS) was
not met for a sample collected two weeks prior to the report while
standards for the other parameters were also met at the time. The KSA
Public Health Department collects monthly samples from this sewage
treatment plant and submits them to the Environmental Health Lab of
the Ministry of Health for analysis.
According to the team, algal growth noticed in
the gully is due to nutrients in the effluent. The operators of the
treatment plant indicated that the gully is cleaned every two months
by the UWI. |
