Fish kill Christmas

Residents in the Zephyrton community of Linstead, St Catherine, are expressing growing concern following the latest fish kill, this time in a tributary that feeds into the Rio Cobre.

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has attributed the pollution that resulted in the fish kill to effluent discharge from the Claremont Treatment Plant operated by the National Water Commission (NWC).

In a statement yesterday, NEPA reported that what it referred to as a “small fish kill” on December 24 had been contained.

“In investigating the incident, in which approximately 50 fish were seen floating on the river on Christmas morning, it was discovered that the pollution was due to a malfunctioning National Water Commission (NWC) sewage treatment plant at Charlemont in St Catherine. The defective plant caused untreated sewage to be emitted into the Old John’s Gully which flows into the river,” the environmental agency said. “The NWC has since corrected the problem which was due to a power outage at the plant. Arising from this incident, NEPA will be serving the NWC with an enforcement notice tomorrow (December 27, 2023) to outline specific terms to which the entity must comply.”

Praying for rain

Yesterday locals complained of a persistent sewage stench and a foul odour emanating from dead fish in the stream over the past week.

Serita Thomas, a resident of the area, said she was praying for rain to wash away the smell that was keeping her confined to her house.

“When I went down to the river on Saturday, I saw a lot of dead fish floating in the water. Because of the smell we cannot stay outside the house for long periods, we have to lock up inside,” she disclosed.

“About a week now we started to smell the stench like sewage mixed with a kind of dead animal stench. Mi think it was some dead animal they throw in the water, but after it continue everyday mi look and see a whole heap of dead fish,” said Phillip Gaze, a small business operator in the area.

Another resident, Sherika Dunn, told The Gleaner that her annual family Christmas dinner was ruined by the foul odour.

“Our family dinner was affected by the stench yesterday (Christmas Day). We had to play it down, telling visiting family members that it was the next-door sewerage system when they asked where the odour was coming from. It was this morning we found out that it was dead fish mixed with sewage that caused the stench,” she revealed.

Dunn said she wanted the authorities to deal with the source of the problem because it was not the first time it was occurring.

Power supply issues

In the meantime, an employee at the NWC, who wished not be identified, told The Gleaner that the sewerage plant was affected by power supply issues with the Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS).

According to the NWC employee, the issue with the power supply has been resolved and the system is once again functioning at full capacity.

Despite the suggestion that the cause of the incident was an issue with the power supply from the JPS, Anthony McKenzie, director with responsibility for environmental management and conservation at NEPA, told The Gleaner that, though he could not say whether the NWC would be taken to court, there would be some form of enforcement action.

“There is also a need for redundancy in the NWC system to take care of these eventualities associated with power outages,” McKenzie added “There must be a backup system in place to ensure that the system performs adequately.”

With residents citing the constant recurrence of the pollution of the river, Kestonard Gordon, president of Friends of the Rio Cobre, has urged NEPA to bring criminal charges against the NWC and demanded that a public apology be offered to the residents along with measures to clean up the affected tributary.

Just last July, bauxite company UC Rusal supervised a fish restocking of the Rio Cobre, after it was ordered by NEPA to finance the project. The environmental watchdog had found the company culpable after the July 2022 contamination of the river that resulted in a massive fish kill.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com