2 days ago
1
Concerns about the safety of Belize’s drinking water resurfaced last month after the Statistical Institute of Belize (SIB) reported findings from its “MICS 7” testing that allegedly detected the presence of E. coli bacteria in drinking water samples. In response, Belize Water Services (BWS) swiftly rejected the claims, maintaining that none of the reported findings originated from its water treatment or distribution systems. The utility emphasized that its monitoring protocols consistently meet national and international water safety standards. To further reassure the public, BWS hosted members of the media to tour its main water treatment facilities in the Belize District, offering a firsthand look at the multi-stage process used to produce safe, drinkable water. We join Correspondent LJay Wade for the story.
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: “Today the Belize Water Service Limited allowed personnel from the media to visit their waste treatment plant here in the capital after concerns were raised regarding one of the wastewater lift stations operated by BWS. During the tour we were educated on the process of how wastewater is treated and then released back into the environment. The wastewater coming into the plant first gets filtered through a bar screen before making its way into a series of grid chambers and then into the various anaerobic ponds where the wastewater is treated around 37 days before being poured into a body of water that safely leads into the Belize River. The situation at the Bullfrog Wastewater Lift Station according to Chief Operations Officer Sanjay Keshwani was due to pipes that were installed in the 70s needing replacing.
“As you see, and few weeks back we had issue at Bullfrog station in terms of pipeline itself that was broken by British High Commission and subsequent to that it was broken by Mexican Embassy. Hence that station we needed to turn off the pumps. The pumps are working as you have seen by yourself. But while we turn off the station we hired or rented septic trucks to pump out the wastewater from here and carry it to our plant. That repair itself took us about three to four weeks we spent about $300,000 and what delayed it was raining it was rainy weather and the ground itself is made of a lot of rocks so that took us quite long to fix that repair the cost was around $300,000 and I was speaking to contractor to see if we can expedite the process itself but we lost about four jackhammers just to tell you that how hard the ground is but nevertheless the problem is solved and the system is fully functional. I would like to say that the system is built in the 1970s so it’s a very old infrastructure and takes quite an amount of time, effort and resources to maintain it.”
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: And while the pipes and pumps at the lift station and the wastewater treatment plant seem to be working and smelling properly, what caused the putrid smell that residents of the capital had been complaining about for months. Well according to BWS, it may be nearby establishments who aren’t connected to the main grid.
“Due to the break down by the embassies, we had to find ways how to manage our station here so we had to shut off the pump. It was never not working. We shut it off so that we could work downstream because if we had it turned on then all of that inflowing flow would go down by the embassy and all of that water would overflow right there in front of the embassy and that’s something that we cannot have all the ring road having smelling without potent effluent smell. So we had to shut it off but at the same time we were pumping out the station with trucks and those trucks were dumping the waste at our wastewater treatment plant.”
Reporter: But over the past few weeks there was a smell, where did that come from?
“Well, that could be due to overflow from restaurants or pollution. I mean, as you may know, or maybe you don’t, but many of our customers or many people from Belmopan aren’t connected to our sewer system. Some of them have septic, some of them have other means of the dumping their waste. It just overflows from their septic tank sometimes. Sometimes many people don’t properly maintain their septic tanks. They have a crack and it goes through their drains. As you guys saw this morning when you guys had the tour of the wastewater treatment plant, you guys walked through the entire plant with no smell of sewer. As the water comes into our treatment plant, immediately it starts the treatment process before we release it back safely into the environment.”
Ljay Wade, Belmopan Correspondent: BWS says that all lift stations throughout the capital are functioning as they should and that they conduct regular testing to ensure that everything is up to international standards.
English (US) ·