Dead fish float near Orange Walk Toll Bridge
The Department of the Environment is investigating reports of a fish kill in the New River near the toll bridge. There are reports of fish kills in the same area at least once every year, and every year it is blamed on some material being pumped into the river by the Belize Sugar Industry’s factory. The D.O.E. reports that it has investigated and has ascertained that there is a fish kill concentrated in the area near the toll bridge, and has also observed that there are small fish on the surface of the water which seem to be in some distress. At news time today the D.O.E. has not been able to come to a definitive conclusion on the cause of the fish kill pending the results of lab tests on water samples. The department has stated, however, that it takes the matter very seriously and will be conducting follow up investigations and continuing its monitoring of the river. B.S.I. has denied that any material was pumped into the river which would affect the river’s ecosystem.
Find the source of the problem as quickly as possible, and shut it down. That is the only rational action for a competent government.
How long does it take to test water? Mhe media should take some samples and have a private lab analyze it to check on the government work — not that we don’t trust GOB, of course.
then let them submit an official report as to how they discard their waste and where
Isn’t the Toll Bridge up-river from B.S.I. ?
I used to live at 6 Riverside Street O.W. and since the TOWER HILL SUGAR FACTORY opened probably in the sixties don’t really remember when it opened exactly the river started to get polluted,the BSI factory never takes the blame they even try to say that it is caused naturally,but this never happened before the sixties or before the factory opened,finally one day they admitted their ponds over foaled,maybe in the seventies,Mr. Charles Edmond better know as Chuck teacher in MUFFLES HIGH SCHOOL started to protest and got people to picked and so the movement began but Chuck is gone so now no one pickets.This problem is so bad people don’t even know the fish is not a problem the people is the problem,we started to develop cancer and that is true of the people living closer to the river. Imagine what this does to the paint of your house, ask the nun in Pallotti Convent the white paint of the convent change color every time the river got polluted and all the people in riverside got some bad breathing problem,and started to develop thyroid cancer which spread to the lungs and abdomen and on……ask me I have cancer.Hope people avoid going to swim in the river while polluted,shame on BSI has not changed since the sixties 2013 minus 1968 =45 that’s what it is approximately, 45 years of pollution. Where is OCEANA to stop the pollution of not only the NEW RIVER but the CARIBBEAN SEA and all the people it affects. No off shore drilling to help our country yet no one stops BSI from polluting the river and air and the destruction of painted homes,but most of all our lungs hello La INMACULADA School you in front of the river..