The Soufrière Regional Development Foundation (SRDF) has rejected claims that waste from its facilities is contaminating the water at Sulphur Springs, describing the allegations as false and suggesting they may be politically motivated.
SRDF Administrative Manager Cyril Saltibus said the organisation has systems in place to properly manage wastewater and has recently installed a new treatment facility as part of ongoing upgrades to its properties.
Saltibus said the SRDF is currently undertaking extensive renovation work at several of its sites, including Sulphur Springs.
“The SRDF is actually doing a lot of renovation to all our properties from the Colombet site to the Piton, Hike and just the Sulphur Springs inclusive of that,” he said.
He said the work includes the construction of a new restaurant, changing rooms, showers and a medical bay.
“We are building a new restaurant so because we have guests, you know, coming from the expensive yachts and we want to keep up with the new trend of tourism in the entire region,” Saltibus said.
“We’re also building some new changing rooms including some showers and a nice medic bay for in case somebody falls sick.”
Saltibus strongly rejected claims that sewage from the facilities is entering the water system at Sulphur Springs.
“There have been some wrong statements about the waste coming from those facilities,” he said.
He said the organisation has been managing sewage through a septic tank system for years.
“First of all, we’ve been operating for a very long time and properly managing all the raw sewage going for a proper septic tank, you know, which is never and will never affect the water flow at the Sulphur Springs,” Saltibus said.
He suggested that some of the allegations may have political motivations.
“I suspect rather political statements being made,” he said.
Saltibus also criticised claims that raw sewage was affecting nearby watercourses.
“For members of the public who just, you know, have some grievances that we know nothing about, saying that there is raw sewage going into the water flow affecting other falls, which is not true at all,” he said.
Saltibus said the SRDF has also introduced a new bioplant designed to recycle wastewater within its facilities.
“We’ve installed a new bioplant,” he said.
“It’s a bioplant and those people who know, knows. It’s a bioplant, it’s a self-contained unit, so there’s no by-product going anywhere.”
He said the system allows the SRDF to recycle water rather than simply discharge it.
“We’re recycling everything back into our system,” Saltibus said.
He linked the approach to broader efforts to conserve Saint Lucia’s water resources, noting the call from the Water and Sewerage Company Inc. (WASCO) and Prime Minister Philip J. Pierre for greater care in the use of water.
“Especially as WASCO and the Prime Minister have allotted us to make sure we treat water as almost gold, and so we’re trying to recycle everything,” he said.
According to Saltibus, the bioplant allows water to be treated and reused within the facility.
“So the bioplant was put in place to recycle that water up, to reflush and reflush,” he said.
He added that any excess would be handled through the normal wastewater disposal system.
“Any excess would go into the normal WASCO disposable system where they come and, you know, take your waste sometimes every three months,” Saltibus said.
The SRDF’s denial comes as the organisation continues upgrading its tourism facilities in Soufrière, with Saltibus maintaining that its wastewater management systems are designed to prevent untreated sewage from entering the Sulphur Springs water flow.