Chief Planner accepts blame for street sewerage
Chief Planner Gregory Adams said much of the responsibility for sewerage running openly in the streets in some communities should rest with the Planning Department which he overlooks.
Adams made that concession during Standing Finance Committee (SFC) hearings with the Town & Country Planning (TCP) Department where he was questioned by Opposition Leader Julian Fraser about the long-standing bugbear.
Just last year, Fraser took aim at the poor state of waste management in the territory, particularly given the amount of effluent seen running in the BVI’s streets. At the time, Fraser said it was always an issue that plagued the territory but suggested it was allowed to become so pervasive due to a lack of proper planning.
According to Adams, from a planning standpoint when applications are received, the TCP needs to ensure that the applications are reviewed as far as the output for black water from the sewerage side of the waste.
The Chief Planner gave the assurance that his department scrutinises those applications — along with assistance from the Environmental Health Department — to ensure that the sewerage capacity that is required by calculation is indicated within the plans.
However, Adams said the TCP needs to do a better job at ensuring that the capacity that is approved is actually built and also needs to do more technical work in terms of the soil quality that these projects are being built on to ensure that the soil is of such that it allows for percolation rather than runoff.
He further shared that an ongoing study with the Department of Disaster Management (DDM) and the issue of soil quality was one of the inputs that they were able to give for the study to look at.
The Chief Planner also suggested that a soil lab be created at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College (HLSCC) where he expressed that soil testing could be done and persons trained to determine the quality of the soil where development is happening, especially from a standpoint of percolation.
In the meantime, Adams noted that while part of the legislation governing the TCP provides a strong basis and methods for addressing property standards, amenities and properties that are being poorly kept, the challenge becomes one of a budgetary nature.
Adams told the SFC that a request was made for $7,500 for training. However, he said the funds were not placed in the budget. He pleaded with the SFC for the funds to be allocated.
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Dem gah deh whole country frig-up
Don’t take no blame for these useless politicians. If they wanted it fixed it would have been fixed.
@ strups, 100% all them I BORN HERE doing is creating suicidal problems for generations to come and would blame it on the man in Senegal. Them worse than them hatian for the love of money. Sell them inherited lands, passport, themselves, then up by the pulpit drinking sacrament. Charley, come and take this phone!!
Septic systems are often poorly designed, poorly constructed, and poorly maintained. The septic tanks are often undersized for a building projected occupancy. Based on a 100-gallon per day daily water use per person, the effluent entering a septic tank should stay in the tank for at least 3 days to allow aerobic bacteria to break down the solids. Solid broken down, scums floats on the and sludge settles at the bottom. Effluent properly acted upon, water proportionally rises in tank and flows into the leaching field for further treatment by anaerobic bacteria and safe infiltration into the soil.
Moreover, if a tank is undersized, effluent is poorly broken down and poorly treated with solids leaving the tank into the leaching, creating the foul odor and clogging the field. A septic system can work efficiently and effectively if properly maintained. A tank cannot be constructed and left alone. For example, the sludge in the tank has to be pumped out periodically, leaching fields may need to be rotated periodically, etc. There is a big difference between a holding tank and a septic tank.
Well, this is the first time in my life I heard a senior public officer admitting to failure in their department instead of casting the blame elsewhere. This is a breakthrough. we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel at last. Thank you M. Adams, you set a good example. It is not a crime or a breath of trust to be honest.
On the matter of soil testing, we have to admit how challenging that would be, as most areas in the territory are rocky, and do not lend itself to the percolation you speak of, but perhaps if some other material like sand could be added to the soak-away areas (don’t know how that would work, I am not a technical person in such matters), maybe we can reduce the amount of runoffs happening currently. I trust that you and your team will come up with workable solutions. Best wishes.
How about using dry odourless toilets such as loowatt.com?
Job done.
They even create cooking gas.
You are correct, but that is not all. Septic systems are appropriate for larger, suburban or country lots. Crowded areas like East End have inadequate space for leaching fields. Plus, as you allude to, the system may have been designed for a one-story building, but more floors were subsequently added, making the system under sized.