Effluent licences will not be renewed for companies along Rio Cobre, says Samuda

 

Minister with responsibility for Water, Matthew Samuda, says companies along the Rio Cobre will not have their effluent licences renewed once they expire. 

 

His statement follows repeated fish kills due to the release of untreated effluent into the Rio Cobre. The issue has also affected the water treatment options of the National Water Commission.

 

"We've started the process of cutting all effluent discharge into the Rio Cobre. Some persons are putting in plants that allow them to do tertiary treatment of water, which the water can now be used for irrigation, for instance, for some operations. In other cases they will be using it for industrial wash of their plant etc. So they are treating their effluent to a point that they themselves are able to use, and we are going through with them on a case by case basis because you have construction based operations, you have manufacturing based for beverages and otherwise, and of course you have the bauxite plants," he explained.

 

Mr. Samuda said the bauxite plants were instructed to construct an effluent holding pond after 2022. 

 

"That effluent holding pond from our regular checks, which are daily, has never gone above 40% even with significant periods of rain and with their regular operation. We have gone further and instructed them that to maintain their environmental permit, they will have to put in a re-treatment facility, so even if, God forbid, one of the walls of their effluent holding ponds were to go, what would enter the environment in any way, shape or form, whether on land or otherwise, would be treated to a point that you never have the sort of situation that you had in 2022," the minister suggested. 

 

Mr. Samuda was speaking after a tour of the site for a new multi-million US dollar water treatment plant in Content, St. Catherine. On completion, the plant will be able to transfer 15 million gallons of water to benefit customers in Kingston and St. Andrew, Spanish Town and Portmore. Construction is slated to be completed in two years and will be managed through a public-private partnership agreement between the National Water Commission and Rio Cobre Water.

 

In the meantime, Member of Parliament for North Central St. Catherine, Natalie Neita Garvey, has expressed disappointment that several areas in St. Catherine will not benefit from the new NWC treatment plant being constructed in the parish.

 

"I am, however, still very adamant that this plant must also serve to enhance the water supply and quality for the people of this constituency as well. So just above us in the communities of Sligoville, we still have many communities without water or who are struggling with intermediate water supply, so they get water one day a week or twice a week, which is simply not good enough in 2025. It is said that with this new plant it will alleviate some of the pressure on the existing system so that we should be able to get more water from that flow. I've been promised so many times that I don't know what to believe anymore," she complained.