Mr. Pinder admitted this on Monday just before health inspectors tackled the Culmersville area, responding to mounting complaints about filthy surroundings. He said the government is now considering putting in place a centralized bulk waste collection service.
“The department has limited resources,” said Mr. Pinder. “More waste is being produced than we can deal with.”
“We only have a systematic collection of household refuge, so you have a proliferation of bulk waste which includes mattresses and appliances such as stoves and refrigerators which are scattered in yards on abandoned lots. They are being dumped anywhere,” he added.
Environmental Health Services has heightened its inspections of residential areas, beginning with Culmersville, boarded on the east by Mackey Street, on the west by Montrose Ave, on the north by Madeira Street and on the south by Wilton Street.
“We got complaints not only from businesses, but also from a school in that particular area,” said Mr. Pinder.
As a result of improper management of solid waste and overgrown bushes, there is an abundance of vectors in the area including rats, flies and mosquitoes. This is in addition to open septic tanks, discarded mattresses and appliances, abandoned buildings and mounting debris.
“Such conditions provide great breeding sites for mosquitoes that can become infected and spread diseases,” Mr. Pinder pointed out.
The Bahama Journal spoke with a number of residents of the Culsmerville area who all had the same cry that they are bombarded by rodents.
“This yard here, for two weeks garbage wasn’t collected. That’s what create all the rats and roach…human beings live here, you know,” said James Johnson, a retiree and Culmersville resident of 30 years.
“We have a serious [problem with] rats, roaches and centipedes for real. We need the health department to come and spray and collect the garbage at night,” another resident added.
“It’s overflowing with rats running up and down. They need rat poison, but it’s up to the people to keep their surroundings clean. I keep my own clean,” said Edith Carey, who moved in Culmersville five years ago.
Deputy Director of Environmental Health Services, Winston Sweeting, pointed out however that some of these environmental difficulties are not unique to the Culmersville area.
“It’s not only in Culmersville. We can go down in Bain Town or in the Grove, it’s the same conditions. People move out of the houses, put them on rent and neglect the houses. All some of them do is collect the rent and let the house go. They become dilapidated and the persons renting the house, some of them are not interested in taking care of the yard, so hence you have unsanitary premises. And then you have mosquito and rodent harborage, the likelihood of an outbreak of disease,” said Mr. Sweeting.
Additionally, the Department of Environmental Health Services is continually battling the problem of derelict vehicles. Mr. Pinder added that the department has been sued on numerous occasions for removing abandoned vehicles.
Mr. Pinder noted that the government intends to amend the environmental laws, which he considers to be archaic.
“The person would return and say that the vehicle was not derelict. What we are trying to do is not only enforce the law, but minimize any possibilities for the department to be sued. We were just in Marathon and moved cars. By the time we returned the following week, there were more cars accumulating,” Mr. Pinder exclaimed.
Mr. Sweeting added, “Some persons are so unscrupulous, if I mark a car on East Street for removal, that individual will move that vehicle and put it on Mackey Street because they want to take the parts off. That is the difficulty that we face.”
The Environmental Health Act requires that derelict vehicles are marked with a 14-day removal notice. When that time has expired, the owners are given an additional 28 days before the matter is taken to court.
“The laws are grossly outdated and they do not give the department the clearance to move vehicles immediately and without giving notice… it is something that this government is frustrated with because we pride ourselves on being an environmentally conscious government,” said Mr. Pinder.
Once public health orders are served on those in the Culmersville area, there will be follow-up inspections.
“Those things which aren’t remedied, we intend to take those matters to court. We will conduct exercises like this on a regular basis. We intend to make a dent in these environmental infractions. It’s not only costly to the government, but to all of us as a people because we are that much more challenged to move to first-world status, to improve the look of the Bahamas not only for tourists, but for ourselves,” said Mr. Pinder.
Fines levied for environmental infractions are as high as $10,000 or nine months imprisonment
By Hadassah Hall, The Bahama Journal
