By Onika Campbell, Gleaner WriterHANOVER:
THE HANOVER Parish Council has pumped nearly half million dollars in an ongoing drain cleaning programme in Lucea aimed at clearing clogged drains caused by improper garbage disposal.
Secretary/manager of the Hanover Parish Council, Alfred Graham, told The Gleaner that the blocked drains in Lucea posed an ongoing problem. "Unfortunately because sections of the town are very low, it is very difficult for the Council to keep the drains well maintained," Graham said.
In addition, he said, to compound the problem the residents in the town have contributed to the problem by dumping garbage in these drains and making it much more difficult for the Council.
"We have been implementing a maintenance programme over the past two to three weeks, we are spending somewhere between $300,000 to $400,000 on these drains to keep them clean," he continued.
Up to Tuesday, the drains had debris, algae and stagnant water. However, Mr. Graham insisted that work has already been started on some of these drains.
"We have started on the Millers Drive, we also have already done work in the areas adjacent to the Lucea Market 'The Venture Gutter'. That is the main problem as it relates to the pile up of garbage."
Since then he said there has already been a plan to bring a solution to the problems. "It is not only a problem on a short-term basis, we have to look at long-term plan." This short-term basis, he said, is the regular cleaning and he insisted that the whole process needed to be looked at from an engineering prospective.
And to that extent the Council has taken the decision to seek assistance from the Local Government authority for additional fund to employ a technical analysis to look at the town and suggest a programme for a long term solution to the problem that continue to plague the town.
Mr. Graham implored residents that garbage receptacles have been provided in designated areas.
"I am urging citizens and visitors to the town to deposit their garbage in receptacles. I am also urging the residents on the outskirts of Lucea to deposit their garbage properly and avoid dumping in the gullies, as when it rains a significant amount of garbage that is washed in the town creates problems," he said.
