VG resident complains about ‘chemical fumes’ from neighbour’s sewerage system
Further concerns were raised about the possible effects on sea life in the Handsome Bay area where the recycled water is said to be running off.
The woman was on Ulric Scatliffe’s ‘A look at the community’ on ZBVI 780 A.M. Saturday evening, October 29, 2016 venting her frustrations about the situation.
The caller said she lives at Handsome Bay on the island of Virgin Gorda, some two blocks away from a property belonging to a man who has a two-story apartment building. “Apparently he was having problems with the sewage so he now turns to a system called bio-safe where you can recycle the water and use it for gardening.”
The caller alleged that her neighbour allegedly is not utilising the system for recycling the water. “What the company did, they run the pipe from his property into Water and Sewerage property, there is a trench and they let the pipe down to the basin where I live and the pipe is laid in the trench down to a grape tree down to the sea shore,” explained the caller.
Authorities allegedly notified
She said the recycled water goes down to the seashore in Handsome Bay and is not being used to water plants and other things of her neighbour’s property. She said that upon noticing such, an alert was raised and she went as far as to bring her concerns to Dr The Honourable Hubert O’Neal (R9).
“He knows about it, the Health Department knows about it, Conservation [and Fisheries Department] knows about it, the health inspector in Virgin Gorda knows about it, Honourable Ronnie W. Skelton knows about it.”
The caller claimed that being the closest person to the operations she is directly affected as, according to her, “Every night it seems like the timer, sometimes it goes off after 10:00 P.M. and when I am sitting on my verandah or in my bedroom the strong fumes from the chlorine, from the chemical that they use for the process, I can’t stay in my bedroom or stay on my porch in the evening."
According to the woman, she is appealing for something to be done urgently to have the matter addressed as it is not, in her opinion, fair that they system is left as is since it is allegedly having an adverse effect on the environment and her health.
Further, the woman said the authorities should insist that the homeowner stick to the system of utilising the recycled water and not let it run off in the sea.
According to her, the area where the water is made to run off is where persons, including herself, frequent for swimming and it is also a popular fishing ground.
“We have some of the “Doctor fishes” in that area, it has lobsters, it has turtles and it’s a very nice area for snorkeling and I don’t know if that water that is coming from that …bio septic tank, I don’t know if the water goes into the sea water itself but when the water trickles down on the rock and into the sea water and out into the ocean, we don’t know what would happen to the sea life in that area.”
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8 Responses to “VG resident complains about ‘chemical fumes’ from neighbour’s sewerage system”
Cholera Outbreak???? Repeat of history??? Reminder at Long Bush. Hope not
However, for septic systems to be effective, they must be properly designed, effectively sized(based on average number of building's occupant, plan typically for a 100 gallons per day per person), constructed, operated and maintained. Specifically, a typical septic system should be sized so that the solids can stay in the tank a minimum number of days(3-5 days) so that bacteria can act on solids breaking it into liquids where the sludge settles to the bottom and liquid flows out and dispersed over a leaching field. Septic tanks need to be pumped out periodically to maintain effectiveness. An undersized septic system results in solids being discharge into leaching field without being broken down by bacteria. This results in the now familiar "scent" as well as pose a risk to human health. Leaching fields needs to be rotated as needed ( problem on small lots).