Toxic Runoff Blamed for Belize River Fish Kill

A major fish kill in the Belize River Valley was not caused by one polluter or a single contaminant. Instead, environmental officials say severe flooding washed a dangerous mixture of organic material, pesticides and fertilizers into the river. The Department of the Environment will present its final findings at a public meeting on September eleventh, but the focus is already shifting to prevention. Sustainable Development Minister Orlando Habet says officials are reviewing compliance plans for farms in the affected area, as the government looks to tighten safeguards and reduce the risk of another environmental disaster.

 

Orlando Habet, Minister of Sustainable Development

“The  main culprit is organic material that flowed down into the river along with some incidents of some pesticides or fertilizers that came from the different farms, including Santander and the rice farm and other small farms that are around. But the flooding event that occurred weeks before where the entire area was flooded with ten and a half inches of rain in twelve hours caused the movement of all of this organic material into the river.”

 

Reporter      

“Is there anything that is being done to prevent a recurrence of this?”

 

Orlando Habet

“Yes, certainly the department is looking at these companies reviewing their ECP, looking at, one, whether or not they are complying, what is in the ECP, and if needs be to strengthen the ECP so that we can prevent as much as possible a reoccurrence of the same incident. Just to mention though the fish were dying way down to the Belize River Valley. Fish were not dying immediately where the source of the problem was or coming from. And so it lends itself, and even when speaking to the other specialists, they say it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will die there.” It could be where the accumulation of the agents that caused the kill far, farther down river.”

 

Habet added that the government is now discussing stronger land-use regulations and may require environmental impact assessments for smaller developments near rivers, streams, and other waterways to better protect water quality in the future.

 

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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