For many years, wastewater from surrounding towns has been flowing into Juan Griego Bay, polluting the entire coast where the fishing councils of ‘Las Piedras’ are based.
By Dexcy Guédez//Corresponsalía lapatilla.com
Leonel Rodríguez, representative of the Juan Griego Fishermen’s Association, pointed out that since 2015, the collapse of a sewer in the Marcano Municipality has contaminated the water channel that sea workers use as a mooring spot for their boats.
One of the main problems for our health is that the sewers are causing skin diseases, as well as unbearable odors, accompanied by flies and other insects.
Rodríguez warned that sewage overflows without being treated into the spas in the area.
“Since I was a spokesperson here in 2015, we have had this problem. There is a sewer that spills ts effluents directly without being treated into this channel, where the boats of the fishermen’s councils of this town are moored,” he denounced.
He assured that they have called on all instances such as the Ministry of Ecosocialism and Water, the Marcano Municipality mayor’s office and the institutions that have a say in this issue, and everything remains the same due to the lack of response.
He remarked that every year they do the same process and the official response never comes, which is why he insisted that the ‘Hidrocaribe’ company (government water utility monopoly) must act to stop the pollution of the bay.
“And every day it gets worse, because the crack widens and more and more waste water is released. And what does this do? Here we have the statistics of the majority of fishermen who, by having a small wound and having contact with that water, become contaminated with the bacteria that have their breeding ground there,” Rodríguez warned.
He stressed that even though the fisherman here are tough and do not pay much attention to the pollution, they avoid making any contact with the water, because they are apprehensive of the degree of contamination and the potential amount of bacteria that may be there.
“The information that I collected was that everything in the ‘Pedregales’ and ‘Las Cabreras’ parts was collapsed and all that sewage should go to the Juan Griego treatment plant, but one of the ingenious ways to quick solve the problem was to break the sewer pipe that then spills directly into the canal in order to remedy the situation for the people,” he insisted.
He presumes that Juan Griego Bay must be very polluted, so he wanted to send a message to the people of the Ministry of Ecosocialism and Water, as well as to the entities that study the beaches.
He reiterated that they have gone to all levelsof government, including the Government of Nueva Esparta State, and the only response has been that it is a multi-million dollar investment that neither the mayor’s office nor the regional executive can afford. These works require a national budget to cover it, since it is a very large project.