Ministry of Water & Housing

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Water and Housing Minister, Dr. Horace Chang (right), addresses participants at a two-day Caribbean Sanitation Workshop, at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston on Tuesday (April 29).

The National Water Commission (NWC) has been mandated to develop a master plan for the expansion of sewage treatment facilities and network along the country's south east coast.

Water and Housing Minister, Dr. Horace Chang, made the announcement as he addressed a two-day Caribbean Sanitation Workshop held at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston yesterday (April 29).

He said that for the last 20 years, none of the sewage plants serving Kingston and St. Andrew, or sections of St. Catherine have worked properly, pointing out that during this period, "we have been pouring raw sewage into the Kingston Harbour and elsewhere in the Corporate Area."

The Minister noted that the communities of Old Harbour and Old Harbour Bay in St. Catherine are not served by a central sewage treatment system and the small ones in operation are not working properly. In light of this, he said government had begun to "deal with the sewer problem."

Dr. Chang noted that phase 1 of the Soapberry sewer plant in St. Catherine, which has been completed, and has a capacity of some 18 million gallons per day, "will take on much of the sewered areas of the Corporate Area, and will allow us to bring on some of the areas that are not currently sewered and, therefore, bring about an improved quality to sewer treatment in the Corporate Area."

The first phase of the Soapberry plant was constructed at a cost of US$50 million, and negotiations for the development of the second phase are currently underway, and will incorporate sections of Portmore. Dr. Chang informed that the facility is designed incorporating biological ponds, which he said "are easier to maintain."

"Based on where you have the capacity to expand, the actual design will hopefully take us to 55 million gallons per day in the long run, and therefore will be able to take on pretty much all of the Corporate Area and much of south east St. Catherine," he informed.

Turning to the development of sewage plants in Negril, Montego Bay, and Ocho Rios, Dr. Chang said the government is cognizant of the problem with sewage and is "working towards a solution. and policy that will get our urban areas on a central sewage."

To this end, he advised of several other projects, which will be undertaken. These include: construction of the Port Antonio sewerage and drainage system in Portland at a cost of some US$23 million; and rehabilitation of the Harbour treatment plant in Kingston, the Horizon Park and Eltham sewage plants in St. Catherine, and the Yallahs plant in St. Thomas.

"We have to find a way to set up the centralized treatment plants where necessary in these urban centres. It is critical because Jamaica, at 4000 square miles, is a small island, and unless we protect our environment, we are going to have serious problems down the road," Dr. Chang warned.

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