Antigua and Barbuda’s Cabinet has ordered intensified monitoring and approved new heavy equipment following a landfill leachate spill that affected waters near Hermitage Bay.
Director General of Communications Maurice Merchant said Cabinet received a detailed presentation from officials of the National Solid Waste Management Authority regarding the incident.
“The Cabinet of Antigua and Barbuda received a presentation from the General Manager and also the Waste Management Manager of the National Solid Waste Management Authority regarding a recent environmental incident at Hanson’s Bay near the Cook’s Landfill,” Merchant said during Friday’s post-Cabinet briefing.
Merchant said the spill occurred after heavy rainfall overwhelmed sewage ponds already near capacity.
“Investigations reveal that the recent rainfall of some two inches combined with full capacity sewage ponds and the king tide event resulted in landfill leachate overflowing into the mangrove,” he said.
“As the tide receded, leachate flowed into Five Islands Harbor, causing environmental concern.”
Following the presentation, Cabinet approved additional measures to strengthen landfill operations.
“To strengthen the authority’s efforts to combat situations like this one, Cabinet approved the acquisition and deployment of additional equipment, including two bulldozers, additional excavators, a multi-grader, a vibrator compactor and a landfill compactor,” Merchant said.
Cabinet also discussed the long-term condition of the landfill, which is Antigua and Barbuda’s only official waste disposal site.
“It must be noted that the Cook’s Landfill is the only official dump site for waste in Antigua and Barbuda,” Merchant said. “From the daily intake of items of waste and sewage and other items, you would note that it is very close to its capacity.”
He said Cabinet examined recommendations for improvements, including new containment systems.
“The manager would have made several recommendations there for improvement, with dams — new dams — to be constructed for the disposal of waste,” Merchant said. “New sewage plant in that area, waste oil plant — those are two areas that Cabinet is actively looking at.”
In the short term, authorities have issued a public advisory.
“No food from that area — fish or any products from the sea in that area — should be consumed at this time,” Merchant said.
Cabinet was also informed that continuous monitoring will be expanded.
“They will carry out further examination, further testing and inspection of the leachate collection and treatment system to identify potential failure points and the deployment of real-time sensors for continuous monitoring,” he said.
Merchant added that Cabinet reaffirmed its commitment to environmental protection and sustainable waste management.