Charlemont residents choking in Windalco dust
Published:Thursday | October 15, 2020 | 12:15 AMJonielle Daley/Gleaner Writer
Residents of the Charlemont Farm Scheme in St Catherine are pleading for a reprieve from a dust nuisance linked to the Windalco operations, which they say is affecting their health and causing great discomfort.
Jacqueline Smith told The Gleaner that several members of her family make countless visits to the doctor because of the dust blowing from the mud stack visible from her backyard. Apart from irritating their sinuses and triggering asthma attacks, the dust is also causing nose bleeds, rashes, and sore throats as well as itchy and swollen eyes.
Her six-year-old granddaughter has had to move away for extended periods to stay with other relatives as doctors have warned them to keep her away from the dust due to her constant nose bleeds.
“Sometimes when it blow, a dirt itself you see in a di air,” Smith said. “You feel some something sticking you.”
Her 83-year-old mother, who lives closer to the mud stack, is also battling occasional nose bleeds as she recovers from major heart surgery.
Though it affects them year-round, residents say it worsens during dry times.
Smith’s son, Jermaine Black, said that sometimes in these periods, they are restricted to the house, having to close all windows and doors.
“It get white. It look cloudy, foggy like early morning when it get up real bad, and if we nuh call and tell dem say the dust a affect we, dem nuh send nobody fi come wet it,” said the farmer, who said it is also affecting his crops.
“Me call the manager and show him some a di plant dem the dust damage, and him call somebody else from over there and show him, and him say he can’t compensate me for it, and a di dust burn down the crop dem,” he complained.
Black said the dust from the mud stack is also rapidly degrading the furniture. He explained that a refrigerator was recently replaced because it was worn down, and already, the new one has started rusting.
The residents acknowledge that Windalco has been giving some residents compensation money for their discomfort, but they said the payout is not enough. Farmers who suffer losses to crops and animals are left in the cold.
Smith, who has resided in the area for 47 years, shared that she receives roughly $7,000 every three months for her household of 10 people and wants the alumina company to listen to their pleas.
Several attempts by The Gleaner to get comment from Windalco proved futile.