The Office of Disaster
Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM) is to receive a report Monday on
the status of a sulphuric acid spill in the Kingston Harbour.
Three hundred tonnes of the substance was accidentally released into the sea in the vicinity of Berth 1, Port Bustamante on Friday night.
The source of the spill was a container located on premises owned by Industrial Chemical Company.
ODPEM has issued an advisory to the public to avoid swimming, bathing or fishing in the Kingston Harbour and the Greenwich Town Fishing Village until further notice.
A team from the industrial company conducted clean up operations under the supervision of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Marine Police, the Fire Brigade and ODPEM.
Ronald Jackson, Director-General of ODPEM, told RJR News that NEPA will soon provide an update on the situation.
"The NEPA team will on Monday morning take another sample from within the harbour close to the focal point of the spill and other areas of concern after which they will advise us and we will update the advisory on the use of that area of the harbour," he said.
Mr. Jackson added that specific instructions have also been issued to the company which caused the spill to implement corrective measures.
"They've also conducted an assessment of the SCC Complex, the International Chemical Corporation complex, and have served them notice regarding how they store these kinds of chemicals and they are required to put a berm in place around these storage containers within the next 30 days," he said.
Stiffer sanctions for environment polluters says JET
In the meantime, one environmentalist says the time has come for the authorities to act more seriously in penalizing those responsible for polluting the environment.
Diana McCauley, Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) says for too long incidents such as last weekend's spill in the Kingston Harbour have gone unpunished.
"We need to enforce the laws that exist and increase the penalties and sanctions for these kinds of thing. They also need to investigate them more quickly as in some cases no causes are established.
"I just think the whole process should be taken more seriously," she said.
Three hundred tonnes of the substance was accidentally released into the sea in the vicinity of Berth 1, Port Bustamante on Friday night.
The source of the spill was a container located on premises owned by Industrial Chemical Company.
ODPEM has issued an advisory to the public to avoid swimming, bathing or fishing in the Kingston Harbour and the Greenwich Town Fishing Village until further notice.
A team from the industrial company conducted clean up operations under the supervision of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Marine Police, the Fire Brigade and ODPEM.
Ronald Jackson, Director-General of ODPEM, told RJR News that NEPA will soon provide an update on the situation.
"The NEPA team will on Monday morning take another sample from within the harbour close to the focal point of the spill and other areas of concern after which they will advise us and we will update the advisory on the use of that area of the harbour," he said.
Mr. Jackson added that specific instructions have also been issued to the company which caused the spill to implement corrective measures.
"They've also conducted an assessment of the SCC Complex, the International Chemical Corporation complex, and have served them notice regarding how they store these kinds of chemicals and they are required to put a berm in place around these storage containers within the next 30 days," he said.
Stiffer sanctions for environment polluters says JET
In the meantime, one environmentalist says the time has come for the authorities to act more seriously in penalizing those responsible for polluting the environment.
Diana McCauley, Chief Executive Officer of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) says for too long incidents such as last weekend's spill in the Kingston Harbour have gone unpunished.
"We need to enforce the laws that exist and increase the penalties and sanctions for these kinds of thing. They also need to investigate them more quickly as in some cases no causes are established.
"I just think the whole process should be taken more seriously," she said.
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