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Roatan and Bay Islands Discussion List Archive
| Posted On: | 24-Oct-2005 |
| From: | "Robert Black" [achristianplace.....net] |
| Subject: | Re: [roatan] Curious about Reef Concerns |
This was an excellent response to the previous question. The sad fact is: What goes into the ground eventually goes into the ocean. What will property values and the value of a business be on Roatan when all the fresh water has to be shipped in from the mainland and there isn't even any decent water to bath in? The website, following, is one of the best for overall knowledge about different septic systems. http://www.inspect-ny.com/septbook.htm This from another website: http://www.fuzzylu.com/greencenter/tb/tb006.htm After leaving the septic tank, the effluent enters a subsurface disposal system, the most common type being a leach field. This is made up of an underground distribution box, through which the effluent flows into the soil via a series of perforated pipes laid in gravel trenches roughly three feet below ground level (Figure 2). Conditions surrounding the trench are predominantly aerobic and the effluent undergoes filtration and decomposition before soaking down to the water table. Although the soil removes organic matter and some nutrients from the effluent, a significant amount flows down to the ground water and may eventually appear in the nearest body of surface water, leading to eutrophication, decay and the loss of species in that water body. Yours in CHRIST, Robert L. Black ----- Original Message ----- From: dkevans To: roatan.....com ; list.....org Sent: Saturday, October 22, 2005 10:06 PM Subject: Re: [roatan] Curious about Reef Concerns Good evening, Jennifer: There is one point I have time to make tonight regarding your many points. The onbe asking about the difference between poor people flocking over to the island and having to live in sub-standard conditions where sanitation is extremely poor or non-existant. You asked how this compared with the original indiginous peoples who lived there and the later colonized communities who whould also not have had modern toilet facilities. Good question, and it can be answered in a rather simple way...numbers. When my wife and I first came to the island of Roatán in June of 1961, we lived in the village of French Harbour. The first thing I did as a budding anthropology graduate student there for the summer from U.C. Berkeley was take a census. In mid-July of 1961 there were a totaql of 508 people of all ages actually living in the village...this did not count those away on ships, or living in Tampa, New Orleans, or Miami...because, obviously, they were in no way involved with the sanitary facilities of the village. Such facilities consisted of rickety toilets, perched out to the south on spindly pilings, with doors of sorts that often had hinges made from the rubber of old bicycle tires. There were no automobile tires used simply be cause there were no ayutomobiles...no cars, no trucks, and certainly no taxis buzzing about the busy roads because...you've got it...there were no roads. Each village was a world unto itself. Each village had its own duppy tales for example, told to wide-eyed children in the evenings by the light of a kerosene lamp, or as often as not, in the semi-darkness on the front porch, with the childrens wide eyes reflecting the spill of yellowish light that spilled out of the parlor. The reason they were so attentive, and it was so dark, was simple also...and I know you've guessed that as well...there was no electric power in the village of French Harbour in those days, and the children wefre attentive to the story teller ( as was the visiting anthropology grad student) because there was no radio or TV to distract them, and there were no video games, no CDs either...in fact these had yet to be invented, and of course computers were in those days merely science fiction, but would have been useless anyway since as we've just established...there was no power to run them, and certainly no telephone lines to reach the mysterious internet that, too. was yet to be. You could stroll up and down the crushed finger-coral foot-path on a moon-lit night and meet a few people...but not many, because in those days there were so few to meet. The tides flushed what little sewage that went into the sea, and no one had started cutting away the mangroves that act as primary filters protecting the reefs from run off and silting deaths for obvious reasons...there was no run off or silt because people were not busy building on the higer land, bulldozing hills, or making roads, because there were no gringos coming in from the US on planes since there were no planes and since no one had even heard of the Bay Islands to begin with unless they lived in the Western Caribbean or were young graduate students searching for a place that would soon change. Today it is estimated that in French Harbour and around it, including Mount Pleasant and the Barrio...that at the very least 15,000 people live in all sorts of conditions. You don't see many toilets out over the sea anymore...but you also don't have sanitary septic tanks in any measure today either. Since the population has increased so much in such a short time, and since folks are still having to dispose of their waste someplace...we'll, you get the picture. Keep in mind that everyone on Roatán who has good water to drink and can afford it, is today dependent upon bottle water that starts off as ground water. In my early days we all were dependent upon rainwater, and we all had cisterns, most of them made of cypress shipped in long before on island schooners from Charleston, S.C. May was a very dry month, and water was on everyone's mind...but in those days that amounted to only 508 islanders minds, and two American minds in the entire village of French Harbour! Today all the sewage tah originates in the village and up above it now in very large number that have yet to be truly accurately counted...seeps into the ground at some point. You asked about sewage plants? What sewage plants? The one at Coxen Hole is not yet in operation, and may well prove to be a failure when it begins for several reasons...but that gets us away from your excellent questions...just wanted you to know there is no protection from runoff from the treatment facility into the water because...yep, you've guess it again...there is not yet a functioning treatment plant. We do have garbage dumps now and big beautiful trucks to collect it. Did not need either in 1961 because there was so very little non-biodegradable garbage on the island taht wasn't just burned oin someone's back yard or raked into a pile on the beach and burned. Now to get back to your question one more time and I'll shut up. The garbage dump over at Mud Hole has a plastic bottom. It won't be all that long before that black plastic will be history, and all of the heavy metals, the mercury, lead, used oil, etc., will be leeching into the soil. The sea is right there. It will obviously run down hill, and in time...years and years after all the decent land is long used up and sold...and islanders have little or no place to live themselves...the toxic mix will hit the sea and the reef after long before polluting the ground water in that end of the island. The Americans, Brits, Canadians, Germans, and all the rest of the non-islanders can simply leave the island. What will the islanders have left? Take a drive along the beach at Flowers Bay...take a long look, then try to imagine how beautiful the area once was when I first stepped ashore in the summer of 1961. You won't be able to simply because you did not experience it before the bomb hit it....not the nutron bomb...The Population Bomb (to borrow the title of biologists Paul Ehrlich's outstanding book published back in the early 60s). So it doesn't come down to whether people have modern "toileting standards" or not...it comes down to how many people there are impacting the closed island environment to begin with. Please keep in mind that one of the cleanest of all the earth's creatures happen to be hogs...if they are left in their natural environment. And keep in mind that they have the reputation they have today because human beings have screwed up their environment...even to the point of sometimes keeping such animals in small cages out on piers on the island. At first I thought this was cruel, until I saw that they were washed down each day, and their cages were far cleaner than were those that were forced to live in mud and filth...crowded into a pen on shore. Those animals in the cages on piers live in much cleaner conditions than some of the poor human migrants that come ashore off the boat in Coxen Hole, sometimes...no, often,... with nothing more than the clothes on their backs. This is what we meant when we lamented the uncontrolled influx of poor mainlanders flocking to the island in dire hope of finding a better life. It is a major problem for the already over-crowded island. But keep in mind that the islands are theirs...and have been since the U.S. forced Queen Victoria to give the British Crown Colony of The Bay Islands to Honduras in 1861...almost one hundred years to the day before my wife and I first stepped ashore from the little mailboat "EdithMc" in French Harbour. For once I was right. I decided to begin my academic career in the village of French Harbour because I thought it would change...I had absolutely no idea how right I would be! One more thing, Jennifer...you said your questions were probably "dumb"...no...to the . It is my oversimplification here as an answer that is dumb and poorly done...but then if you remember nothing else, remember that what you see today is new for the islands...Like most everywhere else on this planet they have been hit by the population bomb...but it was not always so. Roatán Island once was...or so a naive young student thought long ago...PARADISE! All the best...dke http:www.thejudasbird.com http://www.wfu.edu/~dkevans On 10/21/2005 7:21 PM, iloveroatan wrote: >I've been watching the posts concerning reef protection measures and >I have a(possibly dumb) question as to what you mean about human >waste affecting it... I am assuming since you bring up toilets, >that's specifically the kind of waste you're referring to? I'm >wondering how it would get from that point to the other? Is the >treatment facility in close proximity to and interacting with the >ocean water? Or are you referring to runoff from the treatment >facility into the water? Also, some people have mentioned the >unabated immigration of mainlanders to the island and the fact that >they are not probably using conventional housing methods and >standards... how drastically would this differ from the original >indiginous peoples and, later, the colonized communities who also >would not have had modern toileting standards? > >I do know that the U.S. and other countries have made tremendous >strides in understanding the needs of a living reef and some of this >understanding has only come into play in the recent past (possibly >quite some time since the early '70's). Whenever we snorkel or get >near the reef off the coast of Florida we are given explicit >instruction NOT TO TOUCH THE REEF as this is probably the number one >cause of death to the reef. My husband and I had a great time >diving there in Roatan and I in no way am criticizing our >instructor, but compared to the lengthy reef education we are given >in the States (which we and everyone else we are around thoroughly >appreciate), there was a distinct lack thereof in Roatan. Again, no >criticism intended, but perhaps this is an area where dive shops/ >resorts could trust that tourists are willing to endure the >educational aspects of dealing with the reef and actually welcome it >knowing it's the only way to maintain the reef and years of diving >to come. If they didn't, why would you want them going near the >reef anyway?? > >Here in Florida (and believe me, I'm not trying to be one of those >people who think everything is better "where I come from" -- I can't >stand that!!) the industries associated with marine preservation >spent many years educating the government as to why protection >measures were necessary. They did this simultaneously with >educating the general public, which is why the government found no >serious resistance to enacting laws to protect the reefs and waters >(albeit a little late to save some areas). Granted, we have many >local media outlets to assist in swaying public opinion, but I see >no reason why on an island that has a real reputation for word of >mouth news transmission, this couldn't happen there too. And in >fact, be more effective. > >I definitely share the concern that 'tis better to act now than >regret later! > >Jennifer > > > > > > > > > > > >http://www.roatanet.com > > > > > > > > > > > http://www.roatanet.com ------------ YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS a.. Visit your group "roatan" on the web. b.. roatan- c.. the Yahoo! Terms of Service. ------------ -- --------------------~--> Get fast access to your favorite Yahoo! Groups. 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