Hi,

Is there a wastewater treatment plant on Bonaire?

I am an operator / chemist at a wastewater plant on Cape Cod. My co-workers think I'm nuts visiting wastewater plants when I'm on vacation, but I love doing it. Lots to learn and share.

We are arriving there the last week of this month so need to know soon.

Hope someone answers.

Ann Mastroianni on Cape Cod

Hi Ann,

I am from Cape Cod..what a hoot..what plant do u work at?

Ann

You don't fool us, Ann, you're deducting the whole trip (IF ONLY!)
Welcome to BT, I don't think there's a plant though...

There is a central plant that treats the waste from hotels and cruise ships, I don't know how efficient it is and I have read that there is a plan to put in place a more effective and environmentally friendly solution. Capn Don's Habitat is fairly unique with their own state of the art treatment facility. Most other places use cess pits and have regular collections, some are very close to the hotels. We were ordering food at a nearby hotel when the lorry arrived and started emptying the cess pit, we left pdq.

We have a central plant? Where is it (besides our dreams)?

Sorry Ruth, I assumed that it was being taken away for treatment. I never guessed it wasn't. Blimey there must be quite a whiff somewhere.

We were leaving Belmar one afternoon, and they were emptying the ses pit...peeeeeewwwww! Ruth, where do they take it (or do I really want to know..) sorry we missed you this last trip, things were so busy with the kids and all...next time!

Welcome to BT, Ann! No formal wastewater treatment plant on Bonaire yet....you might have to get in line for a job as an operator, too...my husband has been waiting for many years now for Bonaire to get one up and running so he can become a senior operator down there! LOL. Carole

PS We visited the operation out at Yosemite years ago...sweet place...should have jumped on that job then...government protection and all. Carole

Ann,
A sewer will be created especially for (only for) Belnem and the coastal resorts. For that sewer system, a wastewater treatment plant will be built.
The plans have generated controversy because some people think the type chosen is the wrong type and will do more harm than good. It will leave "nutrients" in the water for people to use to irrigate their gardens. The question is whether that irrigation will cause more runoff into the reefs than occurs now from septic tanks and from where (who knows where?) they dump what they pump out of those tanks.
Most of Bonaire will not be hooked into this sewer system and its treatment plant.
The Bonaire Reporter has printed a few items about this topic. An online subscription would give you access to those articles--and it's a great source of Bonaire information and excellent articles.
Welcome to BT, and enjoy Bonaire, which is truly paradise.
Tish

Cynde, Roger can tell you all about the wastewater treatment on Bonaire - he told us one night while relaxing in the evening at the Belmar... made me stop walking thru the gardens at the resorts, I can tell you that!
c.

Cheryl...that's what I DIDN'T want to know! I'm going to have to email him...

I think most houses have a limestone mix concrete box buried in the yard for collection. The boxes do not have leech fields like in the US for a variety of reasons...soil type, rocks, cost, space, etc. The boxes probably leech quite a bit but they leech the bad way...through the bottoms and sides instead of through a grassed evaporation field. The boxes are pumped regularly as that is the main disposal method. As I'm a betting man, I bet the pump off is just discharged out of the truck onto the ground some where in the outback. Somebody please correct me on this....I'm a natural pessimist when it comes to people and systems....lowest denominator kind of thing.

A good healthy septic tanks has 3 chambers and some very useful bacteries ... one of the reasons you should not use Chlorax etc, that kills these nice little critters (look for wash powders etc with a green logo on the box for eco friendly) ... the overflow goes into the second chamber with another set of little critters ... overflow to the 3rd chamber, which than is used in most of the cases to water the gardens, still smelly but the plants love it --- sorry, I can't see anything wrong with it.
As Tish mentioned, there are plans to install a sewer system. There is money from the European Community for that ... but !!! it still will cost every owner between Nafl 10.000 and Nafl 15.000 per house. I guess there will be quite some people having a problem paying it, even in Belnem.... and can you see that amount being paid by the average Bonairean family considering the average income on Bonaire ????

Brigitte, thanks for explaining the logistics of a good septic tank...no wonder why the gardens on Bonaire are so lush ;-) So, does everyone house on the island have such a septic tank...or...does it depend on how healthy a septic tank you have...and yes, 10-15 thousand Naf is expensive...for ANYONE!

AND where do they take the stuff they were taking out of the septic tank at Belmar??? Or is it something that we should just leave unsaid...

Off topic (sort of) but still on the topic of trash...I have to say, that Bonairians are true conservationists (compared to most places in the US)...one thing most notibaly, is you have to bring your own grocery bags to the store...or they give you little ones (like at Cultimara) or you use the boxes the food came in at Warehouse...if only we could get such a system working in the US. Costco is the only place I know of locally around us where they reuse the boxes, and don't use bags...I have so many plastic bags in my pantry that I will never re-use them all. Maybe next time I go to the island, I should take them and donate them to Cultimara...

No, not every house on Bonaire has a septic tank, the older houses (not the bigger/expensive ones, they always used the septic tanks)have just what is called a beerput... means a partly cemented hole, that liquid is not used for the gardens. The same critters are working in there, so if no sharp detergents are used , the critters will stay healthy and it will rarely need to be pumped out - septic tank as well as beerput ... but yes, there will from those always be some water dripping into the ground ... as it is doing for many many years ....
A lot of the older houses have a pipe going directly from the shower and also from the kitchen sinc to a patch in the garden ... that is where a lot of people have their lime trees and/or Banana plants, as those need a lot of water.
If pumped out, the sewage water goes somewhere between LVV and Landfill by the Kaminda Lagoon.

Cynde, please, dont bring your plastic bags.... Bonaire has been / is working hard to get rid of those.... most of those plastic bags are not bio-degradable and the wind sends them all over the island ... Bonaire does not like trees covered with plastic bags and the divers dont like them swimming in the sea ....

Brigitte, thanks for the info (on the septic tanks)...OK, will leave my plastic bags at home, and just bring big bags for carrying groceries!

Cynde, near where I live a WalMart Super Center recycles plastic bags. An even closer WalMart does not, so take a look and ask at the stores you use.

It took a bit of asking around for me to find someplace that recycles them.

Cynde, get you some bags!

It's easy to stop people from usoing so many bags - all you have to do is CHARGE THEM!


(Message edited by seb on April 9, 2005)

I have lots of canvas bags and that's what I use to carry my groceries both on Bonaire and in NYC. I hate plastic bags.
We purchased several of our stout canvas bags from L. L. Bean.

Mare

Seb, those were just the kind of bags I was thinking of taking...Jim, I'll check out our local walmart. The local grocery store used to take them, but now they don't:-(