By Gerald Miller, Freelance Writer 
Blythe
WESTERN BUREAU:
RESIDENTS AND parish councillors have again appealed for urgent action to reduce the threat to public health from overflowing effluent from pit latrines in a squatter settlement close to the Roaring River, Westmoreland.
The river is the major source of water for domestic use in the parish.
Some of the pit latrines which began overflowing recently were built in the early 1990s shortly after an outbreak of typhoid in the parish.
Councillor of the Petersfield Division, Bernard Vanriel, in whose division Roaring River is located, has appealed to the Westmoreland Health Department to hire a cesspool emptier to clear the pits.
"Some sealed toilets were given sometime ago but these are now filled," he said. "I am now asking that sewerage people with their disposal tankers be contacted so the pits can be emptied until the people are relocated," said Councillor Vanriel.
According to Millicent Whyte, a resident of Roaring River, she has had to build a new latrine as the one previously in use is now filled.
But Miss Whyte said she was surprised to see water oozing from the new pit, although the bottom had been sealed. She expressed concern about the proximity of the toilets to the "waterhead" and the danger it was posing to them as most times they were without piped water and had to rely on the water in the area for domestic consumption.
"We have to drink the water and it is our only source of water. We don't know if the water from the pits is getting into the (drinking) water", she said.
She also expressed fear that if the toilets were not emptied there could be another outbreak of typhoid in the parish.
Miss Whyte, who has been living in the community for the past 48 years, said she would not object to any attempt by the Government to relocate the residents. "I would quickly move if I am approached, just for our health," she said.
The NWC is also concerned.
"We are very hopeful that the proper prescription for the relocation of the people will be developed and articulated as soon as possible, because it is something that we want to happen and we want it to happen now," E.G. Hunter, president of the NWC said in an interview a few months ago.
"If there is an outbreak of typhoid in Roaring River it will have implications for our tourism and that is something we cannot afford," Mr. Hunter added.
According to the NWC head, the problem with Roaring River is that there is tremendous squatting in the area, in the vicinity of the river itself, and in the watersheds that support it.
"One of the challenges that we face at this time is, how do we manage the eventual relocation of the people in the area, because it will have to be done," he said.
Another resident, Ronald Jarrett, has urged the Health Department to work with the community. "It's a long time anyone from the Ministry of Health come check it out and see sey it full and them sey me fe close it down," he said.
Mr. Jarrett said he has been trying to construct a new toilet, but was having difficulty as water was "springing out" of the ground. "We a dig a hole and water full it up and we cannot get to work on it," he said.
The residents charged that children and even adults were using the river as sanitary convenience because some households were without toilets.
"This is one of the main sources of drinking water and you find that a lot of children around here do not have any toilet. So they have to pass their stools in the water and it wash down and right now anything can happen again and we are afraid of another break out of typhoid", another resident said.
Residents said they had not been briefed about any relocation plan, but Councillor Vanriel said that he and the Member of Parliament for Central Westmoreland where the community lies recently talked about the possible relocation of residents on a piece of land close to the community. However, he said there was no definite time set for that exercise to take place.
Earlier this year, the Medical Officer for the Parish Dr. Kyat Tint, wrote to the Parish Council noting that "the Roaring River area remains a major concern to the Westmoreland Health Department." He said then that "there remains a threat for waterborne diseases outbreak ... as the possibilities of contamination of the ground water system exist."
He also pointed out that the area was endemic to typhoid as there had been outbreaks over the years, the last major one being in the early 1990s.
Subsequent to the typhoid outbreak, the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), constructed 80 sealed pit latrines. But those latrines have not been functioning as they should.
The Medical Officer also said the contents of those units were seeping into the aquifer and could lead to the outbreak of waterborne diseases.
