Oops ... Totally forgot! But at least you were smart enough to leave & stay gone! I left SC and came back!!Originally Posted by marley9808
and Booger ... We can't all be California Girls
Oops ... Totally forgot! But at least you were smart enough to leave & stay gone! I left SC and came back!!
and Booger ... We can't all be California Girls
You never see it coming ... and the next thing you know ... UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
I was there for Sandy and saw the sea grass phenomena and smelled the aroma. But I also saw that the situation was being dealt with in a rather assertive manner by most resorts and the Jamaicans, almost to a person, were not the least bit fazed. I realized that it wasn't the first episode for this and it won't be the last. I just hope the next time that it doesn't occur while Mi Lady and I are on the island - seen it once, marveled at the power of the sea, don't need to repeat.
Has the water cleared up? If not, does anyone's crystal ball know when it will? Going in January for our honeymoon, we live on a murky lake, i want blue water, lol.
The water will occasionally become discolored close to town. It only affects a small area & lasts a short period of time, like a few hours. In the 5 weeks I was there this summer the river "came in" only 3X.
What you see in the background of my pic is what the water looks like 99.999% of the time.
Ok Rob-please help me out here..I goggled and searched and could not find anything regarding reports of water quality in Negril-anything recent at least .Found one great scientific article -but from 1996 and wasnt too positive about the health of the water. I know theres a new sewage treatment thats been put in since-but cannot find these many reports from organizations that were hinted to,..Could you please direct me to the places of more recent reports you may know of...As someone who cares about the environment, Jamaica and Negril I'd like to know what is the current health of the water that surrounds Negril (beaches, cliffs,etc).Using search engines isnt really getting me any recent info..
This is the 1996 report that i found: globalcoral.org/water_quality_in_the_negril_area.htm.
BTW-it is very true a waters color may have nothing to do with water quality. here in so cali. the oceans/beaches may look as they always do(no change of water color,etc), but are tested on a regular basis and esp. after rains often have levels of pollution (esp sewage run-off) too high to allow swimming -(ie signs on the beach with warnings)-so brackish looking water does not mean its unhealthy-hopefully just mother nature doing her thing..
Last edited by suzengrace; 11-30-2012 at 03:49 AM.
" Ones destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." (Henry Miller)
Suzen,
That nearly 20 year old report from 1996 based on monitoring taken place over 2 decades ago in the late 80's and early 90's, as well as even earlier reports were exactly why the water treatment plant and sewer system were proposed, planned and completed in the first place. The late Katy Thacker (and founder of the Negril Coral Reef Protection Society) was instrumental in that old report. She was one of the original fixtures here in Negril on the ecology front.
As for reports that would have been made since the water treatment plant was completed in 1999, the two most important places to check have already been named. As has been mentioned, NEPA and the NWC are the two main agencies that are monitoring. Both these websites are easily found by Googling "nepa jamaica" and "nwc jamaica". Both of these websites have search capabilities which allow you to search their entire site.
On a quick check for the NEPA site, a search for "negril water quality" brought up 10 pages of results. As someone who cares for the environment, I am sure that you will find a plethora of thorough scientific reports that are much more recent as well as much more meaningful and useful on both of these sites.
As also mentioned, the United Nations has done a recent study in Negril, and those can be found surprisingly enough by googling "negril united nations" and "negril united nations water quality". This will also lead you to studies conducted by the University of the West Indies, which from there you will be able to find even more information. As you noticed, some of the reports are rather out of date and serve nothing more than a historical reference at this point, but there are many more recent studies that you can peruse.
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
Ras! I am shocked! You mean - like are you actually saying - everything I read on the net is not true? Shocking! Who knew? Idiots can post? Wow! (Clearly, Maggie, they let you post
Dash - humans are put off by natural pernomena .... and yet - we think it's OK to dump all the waste we do! And then we say "Eeeeuuuuuuw! It smells." Helllloooooo?
Ooops! Thanks, as always, Rob, for sorting us all out on that! You one smart lad, dude!
Thank you Rob-
I will be contacting the some of the above people at various sites..just curious if they have a regular monitoring schedule of the water and what the results were-ie hoping the new sewage treatment plant is having an affect. I know when I first came to Negril in 83 -that the reefs/coral etc are now nothing like they once were-.....with all the new buildings and influx of new people in the negril area and surrounding communities (Sheffield, etc) (not just beach)hoping the sewage treatment can handle all that...and where exactly does the treated sewage go ?????
Would have never guessed to search for negril water quality under United Nations- ....interesting
Last edited by suzengrace; 12-01-2012 at 02:47 AM.
" Ones destination is never a place, but rather a new way of looking at things." (Henry Miller)
Suzen,
I am not sure why you are surprised about searching for the UN report as I had mentioned that particular report in the 4th post in this thread.
As for the hows and whys of how the sewer and water systems work, you might want to read up on the history of water treatment as far back as the Mycenaeans in 2500BC - your own city's water treatment owes much to these brilliant ancient people.
I am pleased that you are taking the initiative to contact the people who will actually be able to answer your specific questions that concern you. Your technical questions are obviously best answered by those representing the entities already mentioned.
The NWC website dedicated much of the content on the site stating exactly how, where and why their modern water treatment plant handle all aspects of their system. It might be helpful to spend much time reading the information already on their site before emailing and asking questions whose answers are easily found on their site.
But once again to clear up any confusion, as a general overview for those who may not know, I will add some comments that may help clarify some of the comments you are making here.
It is common knowledge (and easily googable) that there has been worldwide reef changing/damage for decades - even the Great Barrier Reef which is nearly half way around the world near Australia is effected. The Negril study from 1996 that you mentioned was created using data from the late 1980's and early 90's - and that was well before most of the new construction in Negril, surrounding communities and influx of new people to which you refer occurred. It was also prior to the construction of the Negril Water Treatment Plant. The coral reef changes were already being documented at that time as the report clearly stated.
Since there are changes/damages happening to coral reefs worldwide, and the reefs in Negril were already being changed/damaged as far back as the late 1980's, it seems that you may be taking two separate events (the reef changes that are being experienced in Negril and all over the planet) and the small population growth of the Negril area, and thinking there is a direct one to one relationship, which is not the case. In fact, the existence of a water treatment system is helping to improve the water quality. The reasons for the reef changes are not as simple as you may wish to believe.
The water plant was designed with the local population growth from 1991 to 2001 in mind, which according to the NWC was 4184 to 5823. That was when the Negril area was growing at its fastest measured rate. The initial growth in tourism was also taken into account with an expected over 2 million visitors a year to Negril - which seems to have been a bit of wishful thinking. This estimate has turned out to be a number closer to the total number of overnight visitors to all of Jamaica, not just Negril. But to err on the high side is a benefit to everyone as the initial system was designed to handle that number.
According to a 2001 study created by the USAID organization from the United States (Coastal Water Quality Improvement ProjectUSAID Contract No. 532-C-00-98-00777-00), the water treatment plant was also planned for use and upgrades using estimates of the local and tourist population taken into account as far in the future as the year 2015.
As has been mentioned, there have been upgrades to the system that were completed in March and as things change in the future so will the planned upgrades.
While no water system is perfect and there are still some rural communities that are still not served by the NWC in Jamaica, for anyone to smell rotting seaweed and somehow jump to the conclusion that the water treatment and sewage systems are at fault are simply not dealing with reality. When I first had to address this situation in 1996 on Negril.com it was somewhat excusable as Google nor Yahoo existed. Just a very inferior internet search feature called "gopher". But with all the information available easily on the internet these days, there is truly no longer any excuse for such uninformed and irresponsible behavior.
Negril.com - For the vacation that never ends!
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