by Miranda La Rose
Stabroek News
June 17, 2001

The Linden Town Council (LTC) in collaboration with the Mackenzie Market Association has begun cleaning the Demerara River bank at Linden and beside the Mackenzie Market.

The indiscriminate dumping of garbage and other solid waste in the river is currently causing concern among residents of the town who use the water for domestic consumption. The river water is pumped into four systems which in turn distribute it to Wismar, Mackenzie, East Watooka and West Watooka.

The clean-up exercise which also involves self-help work by citizens began on Monday and is expected to continue throughout the week, Deputy Town Clerk Floyd Patterson told Stabroek News last week.

The exercise to clean up both banks of the river at Mackenzie and Wismar, Patterson said, would be on-going.

In addition the LTC on Monday, he said, had met with market vendors and had issued a warning that action would be taken by the town's constabulary against those found littering and dumping garbage in prohibited areas. Persons would be prosecuted according to the law, he warned.

In the campaign to clean up the the Mackenzie Market area, Patterson said that residents had been given garbage bags and it was expected that they would also buy their own. When filled, the bags would be placed at a convenient spot for the town's garbage trucks or tractors to take away for disposal. They had also been advised that they could place their garbage in discarded rice and flour bags.

He noted that Omai Gold Mines Limited had been very helpful to the community by providing a number of garbage bins and had pledged continued assistance.

He said that the LTC had been looking at the problem of the river and there had been plans to start the clean-up exercise even before the television documentary `The Future of the River Water and You' produced by the Region Ten Regional Democratic Council (RDC) had been shown. It had been aired on the local television station in Linden over the past weekend and had had the desired effect. It had effectively complemented the LTC's campaign, he said.

The main concern in the documentary was the dumping of market refuse by stallholders of the Mackenzie Market and those located on Burnham Drive in Wismar. Both Mackenzie Market and Burnham Drive run parallel to the river.

Several attempts to contact the town's mayor Stanley Smith proved futile. However, Patterson said that while the RDC, which is headquartered at Linden, was willing to co-ordinate efforts to clean up the town, environmental health and sanitation was the LTC's duty. Regional Executive Officer Basil Benn had told Stabroek News that the regional administration was interested in cleaning the town's water supply source and had invited the LTC to discuss the issue. The LTC, he said, had indicated its willingness to work with the RDC. However, he was still to meet with the town council.

He had noted that the LTC needed to identify a regular dump/ landfill site as it also "dumps garbage indiscriminately," but Patterson maintained that contrary to Benn's report, the LTC had two regular dump sites, both of which were away from the housing areas.

One dump site is located at the worked-out Boskalis mines aback of Noitgedacht and the other is another exhausted Green's Construction Company mine behind Watooka.

He was adamant that workers from the LTC Cleansing Department "do not dump garbage indiscriminately at places not designated." He said that much of the garbage dumped on access roads to worked-out mine areas came mainly from persons getting rid of industrial waste and other refuse.

He said that the LTC employees are trained to carry out their tasks effectively and understood the dangers of scavenging.

While the LTC might not be as effective as it should be, he said, it was nevertheless doing its best with limited resources. The town works with two tractor trailers and two trucks which pick up the garbage but it was seeking another truck as the current fleet was not adequate.

In addition to the efforts of the LTC and the RDC, sources told Stabroek News that the group Friends Restoring Education and Economic Development (FREED) in Linden had been conducting an environmental awareness campaign in which they were plugging the need for better sanitation in the town.

FREED, along with the RDC and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), organised the Green Walk held last Saturday at Linden. The two-hour walk through the town and mined-out pits was considered a success. One problem identified was the dumping of garbage at the entrance to mines.

United Nations Volunteer Rhone Peroune, who took part in the Green Walk, told this newspaper that the people of Linden were encouraged to become more involved in volunteering to solve their own problems as well as to establish environmental clubs.