Potable water at “serious risk” of sewage contamination - Report
According to the 2011 Annual Report of the Environmental Health Division which was laid in the House of Assembly on July 24, 2012, investigations carried out indicate that drinking water supplies, both private and public, are at a serious risk of contamination by sewage. Added to the indifference in the compliance rate of defaulters, the main causal factor is seemingly a continued decline in the available land space for proper disposal of liquid waste as a result of increased development in the Territory.
The report further outlined that with wastewater disposal continuing to pose an increasingly ongoing problem due to unmonitored and uncontrolled development, other contributing factors include poorly designed septic systems, a common phenomenon of developers exceeding property density, and poor soil types which ultimately affects percolation rates for wastewater.
Though the report mentioned that due to fact that the Water Quality and Institutional Programme institutions such as Day Cares, Preschools, Primary and Secondary Schools, Senior Citizen Home, Health Clinics, and Hospitals are inspected periodically to ensure sanitary standards are maintained in order to reduce undue health risks to occupants, it urged that stringent actions be taken to curb the problem.
Of the over 100 complaints recorded regarding waste disposal during the period under review, nearly 50 percent are attributed to liquid waste and excreta disposal, yet only a small percentage of the investigated cases have been remedied to date.
This appears to be as a result of several factors. Prominent among these is the poor compliance rate of defaulters. Twelve (12) notices were recorded as being filed during the period with only three being complied with. Additional complaints are reported as being followed up with others being referred to other agencies for their attention while a few more remain under investigation.
The report recommends that for the problems, which incidentally pose an incredibly immense risk to public health, to be remedied effectively, bold initiatives are required to be implemented. These include strict enforcement of legislation that prevents exhaustion of land density.
This, it adds, needs to be supplemented by the provision of adequate resources to monitor construction and design of septic systems and legislation of stiffer penalties for offences as well as conduction of assessments in communities with a view to providing alternate low cost sewage treatment options such as the small bore sewer system.
To further exacerbate the issues stated above, the department is plagued by severe staff shortages due to the high turnover rate that it currently faces. “For the year under review staff turnover has been high and replacement staff took extended period of time due to restrictions imposed on the recruitment process.“
The Division continues to maintain the delivery of vital services to the public but admits that this is not without much struggle due to the limited resources at its disposal.
The Environmental Health Division is tasked with ensuring that all aspects of the environment with the potential to negatively impact health are managed to ensure that all persons in the BVI can attain and maintain optimal health and social well being.
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