The Editor, Sir:

Over the years, in the drive to increase our visitor population, we have simultaneously exposed ourselves to many and varied forms of infection.

To accommodate the visitors, we are expanding the physical infrastructure such as rooms, swimming pools, roads, etc. but there is neglect of the critical steps which are required to stem the spread of infection.

So, for example, septage (which is decomposed sewage) is being mined and indiscriminately disposed of without any regard for human health, and sewage is being intentionally flushed into our water-ways.

The community and township of Montego Bay and its environs present a serious public health risk, as weak, ineffectual public officers hold office and fail to act accordingly to the laws.

We cannot wait for a disaster; we must act now. Smaller countries such as Aruba have recently spent US$3.5 million to build septage treatment works.

Private contractors

Montego Bay, the heart of Jamaica's tourism has no well appointed facility for the treatment of septage.

The National Water Commission has decided to cease the collection of this poisonous substance and private contractors are now transporting it by road.

In developed societies, units are properly equipped for this purpose and licences are obtained in order to carry out this operation.

I wish to seize this opportunity to invite the new administration to consider this least glamorous aspect of the tourism business and to remember that every visitor deposits or creates an average of 120 gallons of biological waste on a daily basis.

Against this background, the cruise ship pier in Falmouth should not be built until Falmouth is equipped with a modern waste-water system.

It is glamorous to boast of increased visitor or traffic, but, if we do not create proper waste management systems, we are poisoning ourselves and our environment.

I am, etc.,

OSWALD SEYMOUR J.P.

ossie@cwjamaica.com

Water storage and waste

management consultant