News that Nature Foundation was battling an ongoing fuel spill in Simpson Bay Lagoon comes on top of Monday’s front page story about concerns regarding the water quality at Kim Sha. Mind you, the latter is where facilities to accommodate cruise passengers were created following Hurricane Irma, while the beach is intensively used by guests of Atrium and other surrounding visitor accommodations.
Some of the high levels of coliform bacteria found there may come from boats, but it’s safe to assume much probably originated on land, which was also the case for diesel fuel flowing into the lagoon since Sunday. One of the main reasons is that the entire Cole Bay, Cay Bay, Pelican and Simpson Bay region where most resorts are also concentrated lack a proper central sewage system.
As a result, cesspits that are often inadequate due to the gradual expansion of buildings and business activities tend to regularly overflow, with waste getting into the rainwater runoff and ultimately ending up in the lagoon. If this influx of dirty water is not stopped, no project to keep the water of the lagoon or even nearby beaches clean really makes sense.
A joint Dutch/French sewage plant for that general area with European Union (EU) funding has been planned for years, but so far not executed. First it was to come behind Tropicana Casino in the Eastern end of Simpson Bay Lagoon, but there was considerable resistance against this and it turned out to be too close to residences for EU rules anyway.
The suggestion was then to place it on a man-made island next to the causeway, but more encroachment on the already overburdened lagoon was not favoured. Then Marcel Gumbs proposed a swap for some property at Port de Plaisance to house the plant in exchange for a piece of public land left at Kim Sha, but a parking lot had already been planned on the latter location, so the next government called off that deal.
But the situation on the ground isn’t getting any better and one fears the EU monies for particularly this purpose may no longer even be available. It’s just another example of how final decisions are consistently delayed, so that nothing happens.
However, it’s also increasingly obvious that – as it the case with the smoking dump – environmental problems are becoming a serious threat to not just public health but the island’s one-pillar tourism economy. These are issues that simply can’t be pushed off any longer.
Action speaks louder than words.
