Water discolored

[Rob]

Dana1,

We have been getting much more rain than normal for this time of the year - it is usually dry season. But this is nothing compared to our real rainy seasons, which would dump as much rain in a couple days as we have gotten over the past few weeks. And it has been nothing at all like a tropical storm which dumps much more water.

It is all relative. Yes, there has been more rain than normal, but I dont think that there has been enough rain to have overflowed the treatment plant ponds. During rainy season we get much more rain and the treatment plant was designed with that in mind. You can google that information for yourself on the internet. It is a fact that the plant was designed with rainy season and tropical storms taken into consideration.

The river flowing into the sea happens because it is a river that feeds from the hills beyond the Great Morass and is filtered by that same morass, which gives it the darker color. Its a river, not a lake and flows into the sea as it has for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Hey, I got an idea. How about rather than produce only rumors and speculation - back up your statement with some facts. What is your proof that the treatment ponds have overflowed? Do you have any at all - or are you just making this up.

[St. Anthony's Kitchen]

I drive to MoBay and back quite often. I cross the river in Lucea which empties into the bay and the one as you enter St. James which empties into that bay. Every time it rains the bays are discolored--just like here. And we've been getting a lot of rain. Depending on the current the river water from the Negril River heads toward the west end and sometimes it heads down the beach. My brother lived in Galveston, TX, for years and I visited. We joked about the "brown caps." The Gulf Of Mexico receives the water which flows from "The Big Muddy," the Mississippi River. Because of the prevailing current the "discoloured" water heads West and towards Galveston so the Gulf there is often brownish. It ain't sewage! Stop that rumor! --Fadder Jim

[Muzikdoc]

I used to stay at that end of the beach alot..and I have seen this and been in it a number of times..It is def water Runoff from the river...It will not hurt you..(I mean I wouldn't drink it) but contact wont hurt you..it clears up very quickly. Sewage would sink to the bottom and stay there.
Fred Strip---the water at the RIU Club is in a cove where the water tends to sit, it doesnt get washed in and out with the waves so Algae is going to grow there..the algae won't hurt you either...

[Dana1]

Hey i got a idea.Maybe these peeps are also spreading rumors.I'll pass on the day trip to the $hit ponds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptQXyQzdVP8

[Rob]

A news video from 2012 in which the problems then were addressed and fixed back in 2012 is your proof that the treatment plant overflowed this past week? Are you joking or do you really have no proof at all and are simply making this up?

[captaind]

That's dated July 2012 and I was there at the time. I'm pretty sure they've fixed that

One morning next week I'm going to talk with fishermen I know and find out.

Just thinking about it........................It did that when I worked the beach so it ain't new......

[Accompong]

Sounds to me like a whole bunch of tourists who spend a few days a year in Negril think they know more about this than someone who has lived there for a lot of years and who obviously has done his personal research.

Call it "Yellow Journalism" or "muckraking" (pun intended) doing Google searches for information and then posting old stories and links about a problem that occurred almost two years ago and likening it to something that occurred last week seems a little weak.

Like it has been said before, "Go to Negril once and be considered a 'Newbie' but go to Negril twice and consider oneself an 'Expert' and ready to know how tings agwaan"

Rob is trying to "clear up" (again pun intended) the rumors and misinformation and, as of yet, I see no credible evidence that this is anything other than what he stated. You can think and suppose and wonder all you want about this or any topic but "facts are facts" and I don't expect Rob, BnewB or anyone else to swim in the river or in the Caribbean sea near the effluent. And the fact that they don't does not mean that it is sewage they are trying to avoid.

Just my opinion.

Peace and Guidance

[Jaherring]

Attaboy ping pong!! Let me pat you on the back.

[kylake]

I read rjonsun's post and since I started this thread and have been away for about 24 hours I would like to say any of us can speculate what the coloration in the water is caused by tannic or sewage or a combination of both.
The only determining factor since there is a sewage facility up river, would be when these events occur if someone tested the water leaving the river and at the effected beach areas and posted the lab results for the public. It is not uncommon for beaches in the US or elsewhere to be closed for swimming if conditions of any kind pose a hygienic or safety danger to the public.

Is anyone doing this?? Do they come from Mobay and do testing and post a public notice?

"rjunson wrote: Finally, what does this all mean to the Negril River, the ocean, the reef and the swimmers? Good question. The workers at the plant had no knowledge of any effluent parameters or lab results. They said that someone came weekly from Montego Bay to collect samples. I noticed that there was no chlorine or disinfection at the point where the water enters the river. The pan system is supposed to disinfect, but I'm not sure to what extent. A fecal coliform would have to be taken to find out how well it is working. For instance, Ocean City, New Jersey has a maximum fecal coliform of 200. If a 200 count is found on any of the beaches they are sut down. At the plant I work at our maximum is also 200, however our twice a week samples average less than 5. I would have to do more research, but I don't think that the pans do much to lower phosphate (from soaps), ammonia or nitrates (from urine). In fact a byproduct of pans are the massive amounts of algae that they produce. If someone will do the research and find test results for: fecal coliform, pH, turbidity, Dissovled oxygen, Phosphates, Nitrates, Nitrites, and BOD, I will compare them to US standards to find out how well they are doing.

Regards,

Bob"

[Flipadelphia26]

Good post Acc.