Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie | Pollution prevention is key to sustainability

Water pollution is a big problem in Jamaica. It threatens the health of aquatic ecosystems, jeopardises the availability of clean drinking water, and undermines the well-being of communities dependent on these water resources.

Over the past 18 months, there have been several significant pollution incidents affecting major rivers and coastal waters, resulting in disrupted water supply, fish kills, loss of livelihood and protein source for many.

The Rio Cobre in St Catherine, which is a major source of livelihood for hundreds of fishers and provides water for domestic, agricultural, and recreational purposes, has been centrestage for many of these pollution incidents:

• July/August 2022, major effluent release in the river from Windalco’s effluent holding pond in Ewarton resulted in a massive fish kill.

• May 2023, another discharge incident in the river near Zephyrton caused by an upwelling from an ‘unknown’ bauxite source.

• December 13, another section of the river was affected by an oil spill from a defective boiler owned by Trade Winds Citrus. The black oil slick coated the vegetation along the banks, later washing down into the river after heavy rainfall, forcing the closure of the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) and National Water Commission (NWC) intake.

• December 24-25,2023, another fish kill caused by sewage released from a state agency, the NWC, due to power failure at their sewage treatment plant in Charlemont.

Similarly, the Kingston Harbour recorded two fish kills in November and December 2023. The harbour, however, is regularly affected by discharges from nearby industrial and sewage facilities and solid waste, which washes down via major gullies. Also, in April 2023, a fish kill caused by pesticides in Driver’s River caused the temporary closure of Reach Falls, a major tourist attraction in Portland.

In response, the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has issued enforcement notices, suspended permits or issued notices of intention to suspend a permit, drawn down on an environmental performance bond, among other actions. But this has not been enough to stop the repeated pollution incidents.

WHAT IS POLLUTION?

Pollution results when harmful or poisonous substances enter the environment. It is hard to clean up, and some types of damage can never be reversed or can only be fixed over the long term. Pollution prevention avoids this by reviewing all aspects of commercial or industrial operations, identifying the impacts and calculating environmental costs.

The practice of pollution prevention leads to fewer impacts on human health, safety, and the environment and is crucial for sustainability.

POLLUTION PREVENTION

In Jamaica, the past 20 years or so have seen an increase in the public’s environmental awareness. Unfortunately, this has not been matched by improvements in pollution prevention or response. The penalties for those who break the laws are negligible. The primary environmental legislations under which one can be prosecuted are The Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA) Act and the Wild Life Protection Act. The fines, however, are so low (up to J$50,000 and J$100,000, respectively) that they have little or no impact on behaviour. The new Fisheries Act has much higher fines, which, so far, has not been used to prosecute those who have polluted water bodies.

For more than 15 years, we have been hearing that the fines under the NRCA Act are too low. In December 2022, Senator Matthew Samuda, minister without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation, promised that the NRCA and the Wild Life Protection Act would be amended before the end of that parliamentary year. A similar promise to increase the fines was previously made in 2021. It is now 2024. The fact that the situation remains unchanged after all these years demonstrates a lack of seriousness about monitoring and enforcement by the state.

A healthy environment is key for healthy people and a sustainable economy. Greater attention must be paid to pollution prevention, effective monitoring by regulators, and harsher penalties for polluters.

Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie, PhD, is an environmental scientist and the CEO of the Jamaica Environment Trust. Send feedback to jamaicaenvironmenttrust@gmail.com.