New Works choking under raw sewage
THE ST Catherine Health Department has said that it is unable to pursue enforcement measures to have a decade-old problem of raw sewage flowing from manholes in the middle of some streets in New Works housing scheme as there are no responsible parties to engage.
The more than 300 residents who own the 55 housing units first constructed by the Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) and reportedly later turned over to the National Housing Trust (NHT) are having to suffer the discomfort associated with the sewage overflow in the Linstead-based scheme with no end in sight.
Homeowner Zedeka Wheeler has experienced the constant overflow of raw sewage in the street in front of her house for the past eight months. She told The Gleaner that the situation has now reached crisis proportions.
“I have two babies i nside, and t hey are currently sick because of the condition. I have been reaching out to different agencies, and nobody wants to take responsibility,” Wheeler complained.
“I hope something can be done to put a stop to this. The stench from this manhole overflowing right in front of my house is unbearable, especially i n the evenings when the breeze is blowing,” she added.
Another resident, Israel Stewart, said the problem has been recurring for many years, and persons who have examined the situation in the past have concluded that filter beds were blocked.
“We are getting sick from the stench. We just can’t take it no more. Right now, as we speak, you can smell the stench. If they won’t do something to rectify this problem, then we will have to act,” Stewart said, without revealing what action he would be prepared to take.
NOT CLAIMING RESPONSIBILITY
Stewart told The Gleaner that he had purchased his house from the SCJ more than three decades ago, but the SCJ informed residents more than a decade ago that it was no longer responsible for the scheme.
St Catherine’s chief public health inspector, Grayson Hutchinson, said that his department has made many unsuccessful attempts to have the sewage situation in the New Works scheme addressed.
“We have reached out to the three entities – SCJ , NHT, and the National Water Commission – and all three have indicated to the department that they are not the responsible party, so we are unable to take enforcement measures,” Hutchinson told The Gleaner.
He said that the health department is working with Sydney Rose, the councillor for the Treadways Division, in which the scheme falls, to see if funding can be secured to tackle the issue.
Rose said that promised assistance from the Government has not been forthcoming.
“We have asked, we have pleaded, and we have been begging successive administrations to address the problem, which is unbearable for the residents of this development, but the assistance has not come,” he told our newsroom.
The councillor said that three years ago, when Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced a multibillion-dollar programme to upgrade infrastructure of some 100 housing schemes across the island, he immediately made representation for New Works, but his effort has not borne fruit despite many meetings with representatives of the NHT, the disbursing agency.