Cement dumped in Maraval River

WORKS Minister Rohan Sinanan is calling on citizens to be more responsible after a truck dumped a quantity of cement into the Maraval River over the weekend. Sinanan showed reporters on Monday, hardened cement in the river at the bottom of Saddle Hill, Saddle Road Maraval.

“We have people dumping all kind of thing in the watercourses. And in this instance they actually dumping cement in the watercourses.”

Sinanan said at least two cubic metres of cement was dumped, though a lot would have washed out. He said the cost to remove the cement was not significant and it would take about a day, but the problem was the inconvenience caused if things like this continued. He added the damage from such acts would be flooding and other issues.

He recalled on Sunday morning he had parked and was looking at work to clear the river when he noticed the cement.

“Craziness. I keep saying 75 per cent of our problem is man made. We have a challenge with the water courses, the size of the channels (and) the volume of water. But a significant portion of the problem is what we creating for ourselves.”

He said the public needed to get a lot more responsible with their actions. He advised citizens when they see people dumping in the water courses to take a picture of the vehicle number and report it to the closest police station, the Works Ministry or local government body. “We could use to actually get to these persons and try to embarrass people into doing the right thing.”

He said for action to be taken someone would have to be caught in the act and once this happens there are laws that can be used to prosecute them including environmental laws.

A resident said she heard the truck dumping the cement on Friday night at about 10pm and she felt bad she did not get the name of the truck. She said at times when the water comes down powerfully it overflows onto the road.

“That (dumping) is total lawlessness. It showing nobody cares nothing (sic).” Another resident said the incident was terrible. “You know how people is in Trinidad – anything is anything.”