WESTERN BUREAU — With four months to go before the end of the hurricane season, the St James Health Department is urging Montegonians to be vigilant in the care of their environment in order to avoid flooding and disease.

The parish accounts for 63,740 of the 948,757 tons of solid waste the island generates per year. Poor disposal practices such as dumping of debris in gullies, littering, indiscriminate illegal dumping sites, dumping of solid waste in streams and rivers create a public health hazard as this results in the breeding of mosquitoes.

By our actions we are contributing to… the flooding,” chief public health inspector for the parish, Desmond Clarke, said. “If you discard your waste in the watershed and in the gullies then you are going to have problems downstream.”

He was alluding to the havoc wreaked on the marine environment in the past, because of overflowing drains.

We must also remember that mosquitoes are vectors for diseases. There are also exotic diseases like the West Nile virus that, though not here yet, breed in the same (stagnant) conditions,” the public health inspector said.

In addition to flooding and mosquito infestation, the problem of improper solid waste disposal can also result in:

* the destruction of marine life as sea creatures get ensnared in man-made material;

* as well as the pollution of rivers and streams from chemicals that are often thrown out with regular household waste.