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Environmental Action: Dumping Continues. Test results Part Two
Bonaire Talk: Environmental Action: Archives 2008-2009: Dumping Continues. Test results Part Two
Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole B. (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7155) on Friday, November 20, 2009 - 7:36 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Here are the results of the samples taken in video clip one I posted a few moments ago. Very concerning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EihWrfOIj1g&feature=channel

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Vince DePietro-www.bonairebeachcondo.com (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #2590) on Friday, November 20, 2009 - 7:43 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Carole: Thanks much for posting this! A very important topic.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Chris (BonaireTalker - Post #79) on Friday, November 20, 2009 - 8:38 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank you Rita and Sean for taking this problem public and educating us and the government officials on Bonaire ( I am hoping....). Thank you Carole for posting it, now I find myself hooked on watching Forumantilles videos...

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Jerry C Ligon (BonaireTalker - Post #62) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 8:18 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thanks Sean and Rita and Hank. Now, the following is very appropriate.
The worst thing for a politician are facts and quotes.

This article was in the Bonaire Reporter dated 1/25/08

􀁘 The Bonaire Island Government announced this week that Bonaire will get a €20 million subsidy from the European Union for the implementation of the sewage project. The Reporter detailed the plan and progress in the last edition.
According to Commissioner Anthony Nicolaas it represents the culmination of attempts extending back over 18 years to get financing committed. " I am very satisfied," he said.
"The agreement is signed and the invitation to bid can take place. The start of the project is set for at the beginning of next year."
One of the reasons for the delay was to ensure the protection of the environment. The project includes digging and installing the
sewerage lines and water treatment.
The treatment will be on the LVV site and WEB is charged with the implementation. Waste water will be converted into water suitable for irrigation at the seaside resorts. This current phase will include homes and businesses within 1/2 km of the shoreline from Hato to Punt Vierkant,with a buffer area of 500 meters. All cesspools in that area will be eliminated as well to prevent waste water reaching the sea.

This article was in the Bonaire Reporter dated 1/4/08

In an exclusive end-of-theyear interview, Commissioner Anthony Nicolaas provided an update on several environmental issues of serious importance to the ecosystems of Bonaire: the sewage plant, the sewage trenches at LVV, the Lagoen landfill, waste water disposalby the cruise ship Freewinds and airplane toilet waste.

The Sewage System Plan
According to Nicolaas, the Secretary General of the European Union recently signed the Agreement to fund the sewage project, providing €20 million to construct and initiate the system.
Three million euros will also be allocated for infrastructure repair on Bonaire, mostly for roads.
The consultants hired to design the sewage system have completed their plans for building athree-stage sewage plant, and now the selection of construction contractors will begin.
After the agreement is officially approved this January, the “tendering” of the agreement will make it possible for contractors from around the world to bid for the work as long as they uphold European standards for the environment.
Nicolaas anticipates that it will take three to six months to select the contractor.

Then in January 2009, work will begin on both the construction of the sewage plant itself and the installation of sewage pipes from Hato to Punt Vierkant for all hotels, businesses, and homes within 500 meters of the seashore. When asked why he thought after 20 years of work and numerous proposals Bonaire would finally
have sewage treatment, Nicolaas claimed, “This time it will really happen.
We have a guaranteed agreement with the European Union.
And besides I will resign if it does not go forward!” In the next year, Nicolaas will exert his energies on passing a number of laws to start protecting the coral reefs from wastewater pollution.
First, cesspits will be prohibited, and all new septic tanks must be built from impermeable concrete so wastewater does not percolate into the ground and then into the sea.
Next, all new construction will be required to place septic tanks closer to the street so they can be connected to the sewage pipes.
Finally, septic wastewater to irrigate gardens will also be outlawed. To cover operating costs of the sewage system, both businesses and homes will be required to pay a fee to connect their septic systems to the new sewage plant. Fees will be dependent on the length of pipe needed to connect the owner’s septic system to the sewer pipes in the street.
For those who will have difficulty paying the fee, Nicolaas says social services will be looking for ways to subsidize them.
Once the sewage system is operational, meters will determine how much each customer will be charged for the wastewater being discharged
into the sewage system.

Another priority for Nicolaas will be controlling leach holes at the hotels causing seepage of nutrients into the sea and deteriorating the coral reefs.

Strategy For The Landfill Regarding the landfill at Lagoen, which is another major source of damaging nutrients and chemicals,
Nicolaas regretted that “so far there has been no progress.” He is hoping that with the help of waste management experts from Holland,
SELIBON Director Jonchi Dortalina, who, although he has studied environmental science, has no special expertise in waste management, will be able to come up with a waste management plan that will include separating waste into ecyclables, compost, etc so that damage to the environment will be minimized. Another suspect in the pollution of Lagoen Bay is the LVV sewage trenches, where all septic discharge currently goes.
Nicolaas promises that these trenches will be dredged, treated, and then processed by the new sewage plant until they no longer exist.

Cruise Ship Waste
The prickly issue of wastewater being dumped on Bonaire by both the cruise ship Freewinds,
aircraft holding tanks, homes and businesses are dumped into these trenches on the LVV tract off Lagoen Road.
“This time it will really happen. We have a guarantee and airliners arriving at Flamingo airport was also addressed by Nicolaas. He intends to cooperate with environmental groups and activists on the island (i.e. Progressive Environmental
Solutions, STINAPA, Sean Peton, (producer of Forum Antilles.com, etc.) to test the fluids being expelled by the
Freewinds into the LVV sewage trenches in order to determine whether or not they are toxic. If so, Nicolaas is determined to put into motion efforts to halt the Freewinds sewage dumps on
Bonaire. The airport is not so much of a problem, contends Nicolaas, because “airlines are only dumping once in awhile in Lima or at LVV. Nicolaas admitted he is a bit worried that Bonaire fell six places in the recent National
Geographic ranking of “most pristine” islands, but he is committed as Director of the evironment to reverse that decline through initiatives like these. 􀂅

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Michelle M in Texas for now (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #1144) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 9:20 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

All of this news is sickening! I hope that the

end is in sight and measures will be instituted

quickly to reverse, or at least stop, the overall

damage to this beautiful little island!

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Doug Gordon (BonaireTalker - Post #20) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 9:46 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

so, the drinking water in Bonaire is distilled (desalinated) sea water? What is the water in these wells used for? Irrigation?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pietri Hausmann (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #299) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 10:29 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

most of the "sweet water' is used by the kunukuneros as the water supply for their goats .. which are number one on the bonaire food chain

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pietri Hausmann (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #300) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 10:31 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

i was referring to the well water..... the drinking water supply is produced primarily by reverse osmosis

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole B. (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7158) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 11:10 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Thank you, Jerry. Really puts the whole picture into perspective....where we are supposed to be and where we are...unfortunately.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Doug Gordon (BonaireTalker - Post #21) on Saturday, November 21, 2009 - 11:33 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Where is the dumping ground in relation to the wells?

(excuse my ignorance - just trying to understand the situation).

Most of the wells in the US that are contaminated with coliform bacteria are due to livestock in the area.

I'm not sure if we know the location of the aquifer in Bonaire, but it's quite stupid to be dumping raw sewage near an aquifer. There ought to be plenty of places that this sewage could be dumped away from an aquifer until a treatment plant can be built.

If this were in the US, there'd be people in prison. Is there an equivalent to the EPA in Bonaire?

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Sarah Frame (Extraordinary BonaireTalker - Post #2343) on Sunday, November 22, 2009 - 6:21 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Interesting.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Detlef SCHWAGER (BonaireTalker - Post #77) on Sunday, November 22, 2009 - 9:43 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

Dear Sean and Rita and Hank and ALL,

Sorry this is not surprising to me, as the dumped and seeping sewage at LVV is not treated at all.The porous coral under ground cant take it any more.

Simple lined ponds who are aerated (for destruction and eliminating of approx. 80 % of bacteria and nutrients) would do it in the first step...

Past in 2002/3 as an European Commission (EC) employee I pointed out clearly to Gov. of NEA and EC, in my review of DORSCH's Master Plan and Feasibility Study that they missed out a possible scenario about pollution at LVV, porous lime stone/corrals and corrals/marine life in nearby bay.

I regret, I see Bonaire as an example of the whole world under a magnifying glass only. Greed, Stupidity and Cowardice is killing flora and fauna in a fast speed and last not least mankind. Flora and fauna will eventually recover in many many years but without the current mass of mankind on the globe/island.

The most Greedy, Stupid and Cowardly Seducers "Leaders" will create and stay in a Barbary and poisoned environment still for some time, having some slaves for their services and human spare parts.

Past Nazi-Germany will only be a mild reminder and a small blueprint.

Sorry Barbary we had in the past and we will have in future. Mankind is doing slow suicide...

Sorry for being so grim pessimistic and generalising.

All the Best, anyway for the time left in your live times

Detlef

I try a bit from my side making punctual alliances for the Better of my child, e.g. Transition Town. It do not help to stay and fight alone... and waiting for some local and international seducers (Nazis) decisions.

http://transitionnetwork.org/Primer/TransitionInitiativesPrimer.pdf

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Detlef SCHWAGER (BonaireTalker - Post #78) on Sunday, November 22, 2009 - 10:07 am:     Edit PostPrint Post

How to transform overwhelming local/global problems into positive local opportunities/solutions in a cooperative way?

Maybe many of you will find their own individual points of connections to local Transition Initiatives by sharing skills and experiences with.
Have a look through:

- WEB:
http://www.transitiontowns.org/
http://transitionculture.org/

- TEXT:
http://transitionnetwork.org/Primer/TransitionInitiativesPrimer.pdf

- FILM:
Transition Towns - Part 1 to 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtcGTIsR964&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=509IZOMJz80&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3mxCxA-t3s&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtV2Ut9g54k&feature=related

- BOOK:
The Transition Timeline: for a local, resilient future. By Shaun Chamberlin.
Green Books. 2009.
http://transitionculture.org/shop/the-transition-timeline/

The "Transition Timeline" lightens the fear of our uncertain future, providing a
map of what we are facing and the different pathways available to us. It
describes four possible scenarios for the UK and world over the next twenty
years, ranging from Denial, in which we reap the consequences of failing to
acknowledge and respond to our environmental challenges, to the Transition
Vision, in which we shift our cultural assumptions to fit our circumstances and
move into a more fulfilling, lower-energy world. The practical, realistic
details of this Transition Vision are examined in depth, covering key areas such
as food, energy, demographics, transport and healthcare, and they provide a
sense of context for communities working towards a thriving future.

Franny Armstrong, Director of The Age of Stupid film : "Transition has emerged
as perhaps the only real model we have for addressing our current crisis – a
new, if vital, format for reconsidering our future. The Transition Timeline
strengthens a fragile form, something that might, without a trace of irony, be
called one of the last, best hopes for all of us."

With My Best Wishes

Detlef


 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Pauline Kayes (Experienced BonaireTalker - Post #218) on Monday, November 23, 2009 - 3:44 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Yes, Detlef, the "Age of Stupid" is definitely in charge on Bonaire! How else to explain killing the reef bit by bit? Do any of these government, tourist, and economic officials have any knowledge of the economic havoc the destruction of the reef will bring to Bonaire?

Time for protest, carrying signs, publicizing the environmental degradation being condoned by these officials. Let all the tourists know what is really happening here and not just the rhetoric: "leading by example." What a pathetic joke!

"leading by example" would be following the models that Detlef and others have proposed to make Bonaire a truly green island.

 

Top of pagePrevious messageNext messageBottom of page Link to this message  By Carole B. (Supreme BonaireTalker - Post #7169) on Thursday, November 26, 2009 - 11:07 pm:     Edit PostPrint Post

Bonaire needs waste water treatment plant(s) now as well as a formal system to manage the solid waste.

Finger pointing at whose poop is spilling and being dumped is only part of the issue...the main issue is "where is the treatment plant Bonaire was promised" oh so many times, oh so long ago.

Are the temporary trenches/tanks in place as yet? Are they still in transit for the past year?? Don't think so.

What is the status with the construction of the treatment plant facility? Is that to follow after the WEB and windmill projects?? Can anyone tell us when help will be offered???

 


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