The harmful algal bloom in the Eastern end of Simpson Bay Lagoon reported by St. Maarten Nature Foundation on Friday is apparently caused by excessive nutrients from wastewater. That’s no wonder, because more than decade of talk about a joint Dutch-/French-side sewage plant in Cole Bay has so far led to nothing.
Much of the current pollution clearly comes from land, including overflowing cesspits, etc. With many businesses operating in the area the runoff has been known to contain fuel and other chemicals as well.
The sewage treatment project was first presented during a Cole Bay/Pelican/Simpson Bay town hall meeting in 2012, projected for the same corner of the lagoon behind Tropicana Casino. There was some opposition to the idea and it turned out this location was too close to existing residences.
The venture was even put on hold at one point when a still-unresolved border dispute between France and the Kingdom of the Netherlands flared up. The crisis was later diffused, but valuable time had been lost.
The Gumbs Cabinet negotiated a land swap with the Princess Port de Plaisance Group to acquire a spot for the plant near the resort next to the causeway, in exchange for government property at Kim Sha. However, the next National Alliance-led government reversed this deal primarily because a concrete parking lot was planned in the latter location that has since been built at taxpayers’ expense and now partly serves as terrace for a barbeque place which reportedly lacked a valid permit when it first opened.
They then came up with an alternative plan for a semi-submerged man-made island close to the causeway to house the sewage plant, but this sparked objections and was strongly advised against by the same Nature Foundation, among others. The latest is that options in the Western basin of the lagoon were now being looked at.
The sad thing is that there was European Development Fund (EDF) money readily available for the 10-million-euro project, of which 3 million euros for the plant and 7 million to connect the various neighbourhoods to the water purification system. A director was even selected back in 2016.
If there were any doubts whether it is needed, Friday’s front page photo should have removed them. This simply can’t wait any longer.
