Troubled lake turns food source

[Karl]

Troubled lake turns food source

Published: Tuesday | October 6, 2009



A young man shows off his catch at the lake in Moneague, St Ann. - Norman Grindley/Chief Photographer


The lake in Moneague, St Ann, which has often been a threat to residents of the surrounding communities, is now a source of food for many.

From the area known as Swamp to River Head, Foreman's Hill and Clapman, residents have had to evacuate their houses and pay large sums to boat divers

to get to and from their homes when the lake rises.


However, so far this year, Mother Nature has been kind with the lake remaining calm and at a level which has allowed persons to travel through the community normally.

Earn a living
That has given residents from as far away as Ewarton, St Catherine, a chance to earn a living or just to get food on their tables.

"We come here almost every day to catch fish or freshwater lobster," Garfield 'Buzzy' Richards told The Gleaner.
He was one of several men seen fishing on the banks of the lake recently.

Big and small
"We catch black perch and other fish and, if you come early in the morning, you catch big fish," Richards said.

The Moneague lake hit the national radar in 2005 after heavy rains caused it to rise to levels that covered several houses.
Several months later, more than 30 homes remained flooded, some fully covered by water, while the road leading to the community remained inundated.

More than 50 families had to be evacuated while boats were the only means of transport for some of the residents.
Recently, the residents called for the construction of a bridge to alleviate their plight when the flooding recurs.

"The only thing dem can do is to build a bridge so you can get out. Only a bridge we need," Wickham Buchanan, otherwise called Hugh, recently told The Gleaner.

Both sides flood
Buchanan explained that prior to the floods of October 2005, the water would usually rise during the rainy season from one direction.
Since then, the water has been coming at the residents from the east and the west, magnifying their problem.
However, while the lake remains calm, several residents will continue to pray that it will provide them with more food and less fear this year.

[Exile]

Rough to have to eke out a living from paltry fishing....but that's the beauty of country life...try fishing in Sandy Gully....

[MdmeX]

Rough to have to eke out a living from paltry fishing....but that's the beauty of country life...try fishing in Sandy Gully....

Hey in Sandy Gully you'd be fishing out human corpses!

[Exile]

Speaking of Sandy Gully...seems we need a "Gully Environmental Police".
Sandy Gully repairs cost NWA $3.4b

BY PETULIA CLARKE Associate editor clarkep@jamaicaobserver.com
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
The National Works Agency (NWA) has spent some $3.4 billion to date repairing breaches to the Sandy Gully, part of efforts to fix damage to the nation's infrastructure that is estimated in the region of $40-$50 billion.
KNIGHT... it was like somebody dropped an atomic bomb in the gully, it was just shattered completely
Work on the gully - which was built in the 1960s and spans several constituencies - started in 2007 with limited funds and has now resulted in widescale reconstruction of the breaches.
The work included using reinforced concrete instead of rubber for retaining walls to prevent flooding which has, in the past, allowed water to undermine the foundation of nearby buildings and channel storm water through private properties.
"Very little work was done prior to the damage from Hurricane Ivan [in 2004]," NWA CEO Patrick Wong told reporters and editors at the Observer's weekly Monday Exchange meeting yesterday. He said they are in discussions with the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) to continue repairs.
"If the Sandy Gully wasn't addressed you wouldn't have any Kingston," NWA's director of regional implementation and special projects George Knight explained. "The entire Washington Boulevard was under threat [of being washed out]. You drive on Red Hills Road and you drive over bridges and you don't even know what was happening behind the Trade Centre. The Trade Centre was completely undermined. Drewsland, Molynes Road, just after Seaward Drive, Red Hills Road - the devastation - it was like somebody dropped an atomic bomb in the gully, it was just shattered completely."
Wong explained that this year the NWA spent $280 million cleaning critical gullies and drains islandwide.
"That's why even with the rains you're not getting a lot of flooding because we were pre-emptive," said Wong. "We went out and cleaned some of the critical drains so that when the rains came the flood waters were able to run off appropriately."
Wong said, though, that the work doesn't negate from the fact that persons still throw garbage in the gullies, which is a serious problem for the agency.
"You clean the gully today and in two months it's the same problem," he said.
Added Knight: "The gully starts all the way in upper St Andrew and the problem [with dumping] exists from Norbrook to the sea. It's just that the garbage is different but the people... throw the garbage in the gully the same."
The gully network in Kingston alone is about 70 kilometres long.
Meanwhile, Wong said the nation's infrastructure has been severely damaged since 2004 from Hurricane Ivan and rains before that.
"Real rehabilitation efforts just started within the last two years," he said. "Very little work was done prior to that. We're in the process of seeking funding to implement what's critical."