Environmental News 28.10.13 Part II: Instead of Waiting for the Government, Puerto Ricans Start Cleaning up Local Estuary Themselves Last weekend a flotilla of fishing skiffs and kayaks plied through the channels and lagoons that comprise the San Juan estuary system, as volunteers dove beneath bridges and trudged through the thick mangrove forest lining its coasts to clean up thousands of pounds of garbage – fridges, tyres, shopping carts, plastic bottles – in the second ‘mega clean up’ held in the inland waterway which lies just outside Puerto Rico’s capital. With egrets, herons and terns circling overhead the estuary system evokes a tropical paradise but a closer look shows its green waters are ripe with an algae bloom, the result of sewer and storm water runoff that hide tons of trash submerged in the estuary and buried along its coastlines. Leading the volunteers was marine wildlife artist and conservationist Dr. Guy Harvey. Flushing out the estuary is the solution. They say it will cost $600 million to dredge it, but it would be worth every penny. This could be an ecotourism paradise, Harvey said. Environmental Quality Board President Laura Velez agrees, adding that much of the trash appeared to be thrown directly into the coastal area from area roadways, and, her agency has submitted legislation to toughen enforcement of Puerto Ricos anti-littering laws. Here you have one of the top inland waterways in the Caribbean. Its a beautiful stunning mangrove forest; yet it is full of trash, added the director of the Guy Harvey Foundation, Antonio Fins. Event organiser and attorney, Israel Umpierre, said he learned to fish in the estuary system, however, it was not until he read a story in a local Fishing magazine about the sorry conditions of the lagoon, that he garnered the support to pull off these semi-annual clean-ups. Feasibility and environmental studies are under way for a major federally funded dredging project along the estuary to restore water flow and improve water quality and biodiversity, but the cost is estimated at more than $500 million. reuters/article/2013/10/27/us-puertorico-trash-idUSBRE99P0A220131027
Posted on: Sun, 27 Oct 2013 20:27:51 +0000
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