It stinks! - Raw sewage spells danger for Rose Town

Raw sewage spewing from a manhole in a section of Rose Town, St Andrew, is threatening the peace in the community. The sewage, which has stained the air with its pungent small, has been running from Seventh Street into sections of Trench Town for the past two weeks. Residents are naturally concerned about their health.

"Nobody don't want any s&%*t water in front of their gate or on their street, so dem a cuss or dem block it up and lead it to another section. As soon as that happen, a bare argument happen," one woman told THE STAR yesterday.

She expressed fear that the public health issue could result in violent confrontations and is urging the National Water Commission (NWC) to act quickly. "Yuh soon start see people take up di water and dash in each other yard. All we a beg dem to do is just fix it before it start cause lives," the woman said.

Valrica Wishart, a justice of the peace who resides in the community, fears that if the situation is not addressed quickly, Rose Town could have a public health crisis on its hands.

All they do is promise

"It has been like this for the past two weeks. We have called the NWC every single day and all they do is promise that they will come here, and we don't see them. There is a golden age home here, and there are businesses here, including restaurants, that are affected. You can see the living faeces running at the top of the water. Everybody faeces from other communities are running in the streets. We are experiencing a pandemic and dengue fever now. We need a permanent solution," Wishart said.

The manhole from which the raw effluent flows has been left uncovered for quite some time, and the residents believe that this is an accident waiting to happen.

"They were here fixing it one time and the gunshots started firing, and they left the work that they were doing and never returned," one man said.

Another resident, Charmaine Black, told THE STAR that they have to be keeping an eye out for motorists who may drive through the stream of sewage, causing the filthy water to splash persons nearby.

"It is starting to run into people's home because the road is higher than the sidewalk. Sometimes you even see children walking in it, because the sewage take over the entire streets. Those who can jump will jump, but the rest will walk and sometimes play in it. Even the animals dem yuh see a jump, because they scorn it. Vehicles drive past and splash us up and all these things. We cannot live like this," Black said.