The Belize Institute of Environmental Law has sounded the alarm about contamination of the Macal River. We first told you about it last week as BECOL has admitted that it is releasing sediments that have accumulated on the floor of the Chalillo Lake into the Macal River – and it’s doing that because the turbine pumps and the release valve are at the bottom of the retaining structure – which lines up with the sediment-filled depths of the lake. That concentrated release of sediment filled water has left the river the colour of chocolate milk. But that doesn’t mean it’s good to drink. In fact the Department of the Environment has confirmed that iron levels are abnormally high but technicians there say it poses no health risk. But not according to environmental activist Candy Gonzalez – the Macal is right now unfit for human consumption. We were on the banks of the Macal yesterday where spoke to BELPO’s President Candy Gonzalez and Nancy Juan – a concerned citizen.
Candy Gonzalez,
“What’s happening is the sediment and the silt that’s built up within the reservoir of the Challilo dam has accumulated to such a height the dam operators BECOL says they have been forced to open the plug at the bottom of the dam to let out the silt sedimentation otherwise the turbines will not work.”
Nancy Juan-Marin, Concerned Citizen
”We’ve heard stories about that it’s clay and its all sorts of things but those things are there all the time and in all the history of Cayo this is the first time the Macal is in this state that it is right now and the major concern right now with the public hospital is that we have an overwhelming amount of patients going in for like skin rashes, for like vomiting, diarrhea and then we started getting this stench in the showers in the water and this is what is causing the rash I believe.
As well the concern would be in the agriculture sector for the livestock, farmers in the villages are using this water for livestock and of course we are using beef and we are eating chicken and we’re eating all this so most likely whatever is in the water can definitely go into the system of the people in this area.
Over the past month tour operators have been cancelling tours on the Macal River which is a very popular canoe trip and camping. Just one tour operator has lost between $15,000 to $20,000 in the month that the river has been like this and if we count all the tour operators in the area and the ones coming from Belize City to come down here and do that, it is a real major dent in the economy of Cayo and so I guess what we have to do as concerned citizens is to call on authorities to deal with the issue.”
Candy Gonzalez,
“It is a countrywide problem, it is not a Cayo problem. It is not a upper Macal River problem, it is a countrywide problem and it is not only impacting tourism in Cayo but tourism countrywide.This water is not good for anything other than bacteria and algae.”
Of note is that the expert that Candy Gonzalez freely quoted is Professor Guy Lanza from the University of Massachusetts. Lanza made his determination based on pictures of the turbid waters.
