ST LUCIA / SEA WATER SEWAGE
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STORY: ST LUCIA / SEA WATER SEWAGE
TRT: 2.43
SOURCE: UNEP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24-25 MAY, 2014, MARIGOT, ST LUCIA
1. Pan right, bay in Saint Lucia
2. Wide shot Marigot Bay
3. Med shot, boy dives in shallow water
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“Every afternoon after school I would race with my cousin to see who would get to the beach first. So I learnt to swim at a very early age and I was in the water almost every day after school. So seeing trash or seeing a decline in the environment, it's a personal thing for me in that I want my son to be able to enjoy what I enjoyed as a child.”
5. Med shot, boy flips into water
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“It is hard to change the behavior of adults who have formed habits. It is much easier to get the children to change their behavior and then the children can then influence the parents or influence their peers, influence and for Marigot's case the business community to bring about change.”
7. Med shot, boy swims under water
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“Some of the businesses have a problem when maintaining the septic systems. Their soak-aways are at the water table level so there is an incidence of leeching of sewage into the bay.”
9. Various shots, girls taking water samples for testing
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Neige Simpson, Program Participant:
“After we tested the quality of the water we saw that we had problems with pollution like we had different, we had excessive bacteria and like problems with like the sanitation of the water and since like Marigot bay is part of our livelihood, we live here. We go to the bay all the time, we grew up here, we wanted to see it preserved and we wanted to be able to help to maintain it and to keep it beautiful.”
11. Various shots, girls putting water samples into petri dishes
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“After intervention by the expert, the marine scientists, they were able to get them to come on board and to now look towards changing their practices to realize an improvement in water quality in the Marigot bay.”
13. Various shots, girls on boat excursion boat in bay
The Island of Saint Lucia in the Caribbean is home to a vibrant and distinct culture and heritage as well as to a rich ecosystem, biodiversity and dazzling landscapes. Nevertheless, this small island state faces many challenges, including climate change, degradation of natural resources and wastewater management issues.
Marigot Bay, among other bays in the island of Saint Lucia, is visited by thousands of tourists every year and many businesses have been setup to take advantage of this boom. Many of these have had problems maintaining their septic systems because the water table in the bay is high, which means there is an incidence of leeching of sewage from the soak-aways into the bay.
Worried about this situation, Caribbean SEA (Student Environmental Alliance) and student members from Marigot Bay undertook a series of water tests to check the level of pollution in the water.
SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“Every afternoon after school I would race with my cousin to see who would get to the beach first. So I learnt to swim at a very early age and I was in the water almost every day after school. So seeing trash or seeing a decline in the environment, it's a personal thing for me in that I want my son to be able to enjoy what I enjoyed as a child.”
Armed with their determination to improve the water in the bay together with the results of their several tests, they managed to influence the Marigot Business Association to bring about change.
SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“It is hard to change the behavior of adults who have formed habits. It is much easier to get the children to change their behavior and then the children can then influence the parents or influence their peers, influence and for Marigot's case the business community to bring about change.”
Some businesses have relocated their sceptic tanks and others have installed sewage ponds in an effort to improve the quality of the water.
SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“Some of the businesses have a problem when maintaining the septic systems. Their soak-aways are at the water table level so there is an incidence of leeching of sewage into the bay.”
There is still more to be done as many other bays across Saint Lucia have similar problems.
SOUNDBITE (English) Neige Simpson, Program Participant:
“After we tested the quality of the water we saw that we had problems with pollution like we had different, we had excessive bacteria and like problems with like the sanitation of the water and since like Marigot bay is part of our livelihood, we live here. We go to the bay all the time, we grew up here, we wanted to see it preserved and we wanted to be able to help to maintain it and to keep it beautiful.”
Caribbean SEA is advocating at a national level to put measures in place to encourage yachts to install holding tanks so when they visit the island of Saint Lucia, they don´t release raw sewage into the water.
SOUNDBITE (English) Nadia Cazaubon, Program Director for Caribbean Student Environmental Alliance, Caribbean SEA:
“After intervention by the expert, the marine scientists, they were able to get them to come on board and to now look towards changing their practices to realize an improvement in water quality in the Marigot bay.”
The UN International Year of Small Island Developing States also seeks to raise awareness in preparation for the UN Conference on Small Island Developing States, which will be held in September 2014 in Samoa, and will focus on building partnerships for sustainable development.