By Cedric Johnson, Gleaner WriterWESTERN BUREAU:
EIGHT MONTHS after Government told the 700 residents of Roaring River, in Westmoreland, that they would have to be relocated as the raw sewage from their pit latrines was seeping into the parish's premier source of domestic water, nothing has been done to facilitate the process.
During a visit to the community eight months ago, a seemingly resolute Harry Douglas, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Water and Housing, told irate residents, who opposed the relocation plan that, "The plans are well advanced and this decision is irrevocable."
However, despite having the full support of both the parish's health authority and the Parish Council, the Government has not gotten around to implementing the relocation plan. In fact, the failure to commence the relocation plan is seemingly playing into the hands of those residents, who are claiming the land as their inheritance and are rejecting the notion that they are responsible for the health concerns.
PIT LATRINES
We are not responsible for the offending pit latrines as it was Govern-ment who built them after the 1991 typhoid outbreak," said Ann-Marie Hibbert, the president of the Roaring River Citizens' Associa-0tion, painting a sordid picture of Government neglect. "We have no proper roadway leading into the community, no sewage disposal system, no regular garbage collection."
While the relocation plans appear uncertain at this time, based on a recent statement by L'aumond Senior, the councillor for the area, the residents seem to be softening their original stance and are now prepared to co-operate if Government is willing to offer them a reasonable compensation package.
The residents have now agreed to be relocated; they have seen the need to do so but they are demanding adequate compensation," said Councillor Senior, who said he is quite concerned about the health risk at Roaring River, especially with the rainy season approaching. "The Government needs to seize the opportunity and move ahead with the relocation plans now."
MAYOR DISAPPOOINTED
However, while the time seems ripe for the implementation of the relocation plan, Savanna-la-Mar's Mayor, Councillor Deford Mor-gan, said no action can be taken until the Ministry of Water and Housing declares Roaring River a protected area under the law. He went on to express disappointment that this has not yet been done.
I am frustrated at the slow pace at which the things that are necessary to be done, are moving," said Mayor Morgan, who has made it clear that he desperately wants to see Roaring River, which supplies the vast majority of the parish's 100,000 residents, declared safe.
Speaking in the sectorial debate in Parlia-ment recently, Minis-ter Douglas repeated the Government's relocation plan for Roaring River but made no mention of making the community a protected area, offering residents a compensation package or a relocation time table.
With typhoid endemic to West-moreland, health authorities in the parish have been consistently raising concerns about the situation at Roaring River, which appears tailor-made to spread water borne diseases.
