–on businesses in breach of sanitation by-laws

AT least one Chinese restaurant is about to be closed down, and several other major city businesses are under watch by City Hall for connecting their pipes to drains instead of to the city’s sewerage system.
Mayor Patricia Chase-Green shared with city councillors on Monday how when she and a team visited one business place, they saw raw faeces and toilet paper flowing down a nearby drain after a toilet was flushed in their presence.

Town Clerk Royston King recalled that a notice was placed in the press discouraging the practice, and that the Council will now have to take action, including against those businesses that fail to have adequate fat/grease traps that eventually results in the blocking of drains.
The mayor observed that this practice poses a number of dangers to council workers, who would have to go into the drains to get them cleaned. Furthermore, she referred to how thousands of people would have to tread through flood waters that would be laced with raw faeces.

In September 2016, King had given all property owners in Georgetown’s central business district 14 days to connect all pipes to the sewerage system, as opposed to the city’s alleyways and street drains.
In a notice placed in the press, King said the M&CC would have started a campaign on October 5, 2016, to prosecute all property owners who have their soil pipes and other related (pipes leading from water closets, baths and sinks) outlets flowing into city drains. To date, no action has been taken.

“This is against the Georgetown Building Construction Public Health Provision Regulations, Section 19, which says, ‘Every new building shall be provided with such number of water closets, urinals, sinks, bath wastes or other sanitary conveniences in accordance with the Georgetown Sewerage Regulations, as may be required by the City Engineer,’” King said.
He said the M&CC will also be moving to prosecute all property owners who have their roof gutter down-pipes draining directly into street drains and alleyways.

“This is against the Georgetown Building By-law Municipal and District Councils Act, Chapter 28:01,” he saod, adding:
“Property owners who are in breach of these regulations have 14 days to correct this negative public health situation.”