KINGSTON HARBOUR was not always polluted and full of garbage. Older readers will remember how popular seabathing in the harbour was at Bournemouth and Sirgany and Hunt's Bay and Gunboat Beach, and the popular Cross-the-Harbour swim race was a national event. But one does not relish swimming in the harbour now.
Kingston, source of national pride as the seventh largest natural harbour in the world, is the repository of industrial and domestic waste such that it is unhealthy for humans and even marine life to swim there. And this despite several studies conducted over the years describing the serious situation.
Every time it rains the many gullies which drain into the harbour disgorge tons of solid waste, most of which settles to the bottom of the harbour, but some floats away to wash up on the harbour shore, or lodge in the roots of the Port Royal mangroves as we reported in yesterday's edition, or to end up on the beaches of St. Catherine or Clarendon.
At least 35 sewage plants discharge their untreated or lightly treated output into Kingston Harbour, which is itself becoming a cesspool. Circulation of water in the harbour is poor, and over time the pollutants progressively become more concentrated.
This is a national problem crying out for a solution, for Kingston Harbour is not just the possession of our capital city, but is a national asset. One of the unfortunate consequences of the way Jamaica has urbanised and industrialised is that our natural environment has suffered in the process, and Kingston Harbour is a case in point.
We have concentrated on developing the port of Kingston for commercial shipping but neglected its potential for healthy recreation. The neglect of the city of Kingston such that it now needs restoration - is also reflected in the state of the sea. Although industry and householders are directly to blame, the buck cannot stop there.
The government's regulatory and enforcement framework is clearly insufficient to maintain a clean harbour, and the government itself is one of the main polluters. What is worse is that the Port Royal mangroves so badly impacted by Kingston's solid waste problem - fall within the Palisadoes-Port Royal Protected Area, created specifically to receive a higher than ordinary level of environmental conservation attention.
The government agencies that are charged with the legal mandate must to do their duty to return Kingston Harbour to a condition of which we can be justly proud.
THE OPINIONS ON THIS PAGE, EXCEPT FOR THE ABOVE, DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THE VIEWS OF THE GLEANER.
