BWS Blames High Tide for Stink Water on San Pedro Street

The water flooding San Pedro’s Embarcadero area may look and smell like sewage, but Belize Water Services says appearances do not tell the full story. According to BWS, unusually high tides forced seawater into the wastewater system, overwhelmed its capacity and pushed water onto nearby streets. The company insists the incident did not result from equipment failure or a sewage overflow. But for residents, businesses and fishermen who depend on the surrounding lagoon, the explanation leaves a critical question unanswered: exactly what is flowing through the area, and could it pose a risk to public health or the marine environment? We put those concerns directly to Eric Rhaburn, BWS’s Water and Wastewater Operations Manager for Ambergris Caye and the West.

 

Eric Rhaburn, Water & Wastewater Operations Manager for Cayes, BWS

“We had a high tide. The manhole that’s connected near Station Three on Nurse Shark Street was submerged so we had a hydraulic overload. It had nothing to do with the pump station. It was simply a high tide and to verify that we had the DOE personnel that went out there Saturday morning and he commented that there was no solids. There was no odor associated with a sewer discharge. It was simply put it was a high tide. The system became overwhelm and whenever it receded back, if you go right now it has receded and it is not overflowing anymore. The other thing that we’re gonna do which is gonna be a more longer term solution is to try and raise the manhole so that this doesn’t happen again whenever we get a high tide.”

 

Shane Williams

“You mentioned that DOE went out there. Was any test done for contamination in the lagoon area. What did that test reveal?”

 

Eric Rhaburn

“DOE did not really conduct a test, perse. What they did was we took a look. They were looking for solids. Like I said, that’s associated with a sewer discharge. We didn’t have any foul odors. And one of the other mitigations that we did is that we disinfected the area also so that just in case anything happened, we disinfected so that we can protect the area.”

 

Shane Williams

“So your message to the fishermen who disembark in that area is that the area is safe for them to unload?”

 

Eric Rhaburn

“The area is safe. It was hydraulic overloading. It was simple saltwater coming through our manholes.”

 

BWS says it utilized septic trucks over the weekend to pump the manholes and they remain on standby.

 

Attention readers: This online newscast is a direct transcript of our evening television broadcast. When speakers use Kriol, we have carefully rendered their words using a standard spelling system.

 

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