MOH: sewerage flooding is health emergency

Trouble is brewing in Port Loyola as the Ministry of Health has characterised the chronic flooding in that part of Belize City as an “escalating public health emergency.” According to a press release, the ministry has been monitoring the situation since September twenty-fourth and after receiving no co-operation from relevant city authorities, has concluded that the threat of diseases such as cholera, typhoid and hepatitis is so great that residents of contaminated areas should be evacuated. The problems affecting Jane Usher Boulevard, Faber’s Road, Louise Bevans and Curl Thompson Streets has been extensively reported in the media, but efforts to remedy the situation have apparently proved fruitless. Authorities believe that the cause of the flooding is the blockage of an outflow canal which carries semi-treated effluent from a sewage pond, through a mangrove filtration field and out to the sea. The blockage has been traced to a dike constructed for the Belize City dredging project. Obviously frustrated by the lack of response to its warnings, the Ministry of Health has consulted with the Department of Environment and is threatening legal action to force compliance with health and environmental regulations.