“The only way to stop the sediment from being released—whether through the powerhouse or through the low level outlet—is to close it down,” DOE’s Jeavon Hulse
The Department of the Environment (DOE) called a press conference on Friday afternoon to dispel fears over the environmental safety of the waters of the Macal River, Cayo, which have been excessively turbid—having a disturbing “coffee-with-milk,” ochre-colored look for nearly a month now.
Jeavon Hulse, Senior Environmental Officer, who declared the waters “normal” except for being muddy, said that the Environmental Impact Assessment had foreseen a sedimentation rate of 0.2 millimeters a year, meaning that sedimentation would not be a problem at the dam for at least 30 years.
The dam was only completed four years ago, in 2005, and sedimentation is evidently already a major problem.
What about the possibility of the Fortis-owned Belize Electric Company Limited (BECOL), the company to which the dam belongs, deliberately releasing sediments at the dam? Hulse never addressed that possibility in his presentation and when we asked him, he replied:
“At this point in time, no matter what BECOL does, there will be a release of sediment. The only way to stop the sediment from being released—whether through the powerhouse or through the low level outlet—is to close it down. That is the only way to stop it”– a proposition Hulse said is not practical because the dam is needed to supply power to the country.
Though he provided no hard data to track sedimentation over time, Hulse called it an “unforeseen, controllable” phenomenon, with the sediment inevitably settling in the river at the bottom of the dam, and being released without BECOL deliberately activating a de-silting process.
While the nasty look of the waters is a great concern, more critical questions have been raised over whether the water is safe to use.
John Bodden, Senior Public Health Inspector, Focal Point Food Safety, Ministry of Health, made three specific recommendations: (1) Don’t drink untreated water from the river; (2) treat water before use for other domestic purposes; and (3) don’t swim in the river.
Bodden said that contrary to media reports of an outbreak of skin rashes and gastroenteritis caused by the muddy waters, there has only been a “negligible increase” in cases.
“If we would look at the endemic channel for the San Ignacio area, it does not indicate that there is an outbreak or any large increases. What we know is that we do not have an outbreak or the water that is being used for consumption is creating any kind of illnesses,” he added.
He did identify a number of other health concerns, such as the possibility of increased iron content in the water (which he claims is not a problem at the levels observed in drinking water), increase in turbidity, stress on water treatment systems (which would make it costlier to treat potable water), and the duration of the event.
Hayden Brown, Human Resources/Public Relations Manager of Belize Water Services (BWS), claimed that BWS has successfully treated muddier waters: “We are saying that the water is safe.”
For its part, BECOL has embraced the statements made by the Government officials at last Friday’s press conference, promptly releasing an advertisement that includes the comments made by the health and environment officers, as well as BWS’s Hayden Brown.
BECOL claims that it has never flushed the reservoir and is not pumping silt—that the heavy sedimentation is the result of natural inflow at the bottom of the river. The company also said it remains committed to the health and safety of downstream residents, and that it is in conformance with 1SO 1401, which sets international standards for environmental operations.
As to the source of the silt, Jeavon Hulse said Friday that deforestation in the watershed for the Chalillo is quite likely the cause. He also pointed to forest fires affecting over 40,000 acres back in May 2007 (42% occurring in the Chalillo watershed) as another probable factor causing the sedimentation.
Heavy rains released in 2008 by tropical depression 16 and tropical storm Arthur, said Hulse, resulted in lots of water being released and more washing of sedimentation into the river.
Amandala got the views of a Belizean water quality expert who lives in San Ignacio, Harold Vernon, who said that there needs to be a thorough investigation of the sedimentation phenomenon, including independent experts not working for Government and BECOL, and he would be happy to join that team.
Vernon, who said he just recently completed a water policy for Belize commissioned by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the CARICOM Climate Change Center, told our newspaper Friday that what has been happening is a definite indication of sediments being taken out of the reservoir, though he does not know that BECOL is doing it deliberately.
Vernon, who holds a Master’s degree in soil science and a Bachelor’s in chemistry, also raised issues of Belize’s ability to do the proper water quality testing in-country, and stressed the need for reliable scientific data.
He said that while he has seen worse levels of sedimentation, he can agree that it has not lasted this long – going on a month now.
Dr. Guy Lanza, Professor of Microbiology and Director of the Environmental Science Program at the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst, Maryland, who had expressed major concerns over the water’s quality last week when contacted by the Belize Environmental Law and Policy Office (BELPO), told Amandala today, after reviewing the statements from Friday’s press conference, that in his view, it is less than accurate to say the process of sediment shedding affecting the Macal downstream of Chalillo is a natural process, as it is not natural to have all that sediment released so suddenly.
(BECOL has claimed that the first heavy rains of the season had washed down the silt.)
Vernon said that forest fires back in 2007 would not lead to that kind of sedimentation, and he suspects the time series used to predict the 0.2 mm per annum sedimentation rate before Chalillo began to operate was inadequate, and that there was no preparation for the scenario that is now playing out.
Both Guy and Vernon indicate that the design of the dam should have accounted for this level of sediment load.
They also both agree that the sedimentation studies were obviously not accurate, and according to Lanza, should have been challenged during the EIA process based on land use practices, forest fire patterns and deforestation.
There could have been a different design to deal with this and a plan in place to deal with excessive sedimentation.
The issue is that you want clean energy, he stressed, pointing to the need to protect the ecological integrity of the waterways.
Bodden said they hope to expand the scope of testing for heavy metals and pesticides, assess water systems to check the efficiency of water treatment, and step up testing of water systems linked to the Macal and Belize Rivers.
Hulse told the media Friday that the relevant government departments will move to determine the nature of the sedimentation and the extent of it at the base of the dam and the impoundment.
“Based on this, we will have more information on which to make a responsible and practical decision to address the current problem,” Hulse communicated.
The team said they are also awaiting results from PACE Analytical Services lab for iron levels, due in about two weeks, while tests to determine the level of heavy metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic—last taken three years ago, are due in the weeks ahead.