Dear Editor,
A CANAL exists between the villages of Goedverwagting and Sparendaam in the Industry/Plaisance District. North to south, that canal stretches from the public road to a little beyond the Railway Embankment. It then takes a westerly course parallel to the Railway Embankment.

For several years now, the section of the canal between the public road and the Railway Embankment has not been drained, and may be better referred to as a reservoir. The single contributory factor is that the Railway Embankment caved in and the culvert serving the canal became non-functional. The caving in of the embankment has also resulted in the interruption of the smooth flow of traffic.

Authorities responded by simply filling the caved-in section, so that the smooth flow of traffic could resume. There was no attempt to make the culvert functional.

Representation to have this anomaly corrected has been made at the levels of both the Regional authorities and the Neighbourhood Democratic Councils (NDC). The Regional Chairman assured that he had since had a missive dispatched to the Ministry of Public Works (at the time) to have the non-functioning culvert fixed. The development had required the intervention of that authority, he had advised.

The result of several engagements with the NDC included assurances that the creation of an alternative channel to drain the canal was imminent. Neither a fixed culvert nor an alternative channel exists to date.

A very major concern that has existed for more than 12 years is the public health risk being posed to the surrounding communities. Thankfully, it does not appear that things have advanced beyond the stage of the public health risk. Factors like regular cleaning activities by residents, the NDC or by others (like fishers etc.) who stand to benefit by a clean ‘canal turned reservoir’ may have assisted in mitigating the public health risk.

GAVIN HOUSTON