The sewage crisis on the South Coast may have cleared up, but beachfront operators at Worthing, Christ Church, are still peeved.
The popular spot officially reopened on Christmas Day but there are still six large pipes taking up space on the beach and operators and beachgoers want them gone.
They have had enough of the broken promises to move them.
“There are old people staying close and they have to negotiate how they will use the beach. And I have been hearing for the last three Fridays that by Friday they will remove the pipes, but there they are, still lining the beach,” vendor Michael O’Dowd told the Weekend Nation on Wednesday.
“And the beach was closed for so long and now we still have these unsightly excess pipes on the beach, so it’s not helping matters,” he added. In mid-2018, Worthing Beach and others were closed to facilitate repairs to the South Coast sewerage system. At that time, waste water was overflowing into the streets and some of it was diverted into canals to the east of the Graeme Hall Swamp. The overflow, resulting from blockages in the pipeline, also created an unbearable stench and increased levels of bacteria in the water. On numerous occasions, the sluice gate at Worthing Beach was opened to allow the water from the swamp to run into the sea.
During that time, operators said they lost thousands of dollars, which they said they are now hoping to recoup.
More difficult
A vendor, who gave his name as Ning Ning, said the pipes make that more difficult because they take up space where he could place chairs. While he thanked the Government for fixing the sewage problem, he wanted it to address this issue.
“It was a fight to fix this sewage issue, but now these pipes are another problem, and these should have been moved before the beach opened up,” he said.
North American visitors Mary Gebhardt and Richard Marshall have been coming to Barbados for a combined 50 years. They said while the pipes were not life-threatening, they were not ideal.
“It’s not a killer, but it is an inconvenience, and we heard they were moving for the past three Fridays. I just hope they won’t still be here next year,” Gebhardt said.
When contacted, BWA marketing officer Yvette Harris-Griffith said she was informed that the pipes would be removed next Tuesday. ( TG)
Vendors want these pipes at Worthing Beach moved. (Pictures by Tre Greaves.)
Beach vendor Michael O’Dowd said the pipes are taking up the space where chairs could be placed.
