Black River, St Elizabeth – The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) has supported a call by the National Irrigation Commission (NIC) for steps to be taken to prevent a pile-up of silt at the point where the Black River enters the sea in the parish’s capital town.

NEPA said the “deposition of material at the mouth of the river closer to the south- eastern bank” had been confirmed following close examination, including an evaluation of aerial photographs of the area taken between 1991and 2001 and a site visit on July 13.

“We are of the opinion that in times of excess flow from the river, this will impede the ability of the water to go out to sea and, as such, pose a potential risk of flooding further upstream,” NEPA said in a letter which was read at the September meeting of the St Elizabeth Parish Council.

Flooding of communi-ties close to the banks of the Black River – Jamaica’s longest river – during times of heavy rain is a long-standing problem. The NIC has the responsibility to monitor and to keep the river channel clear.

NEPA said it supported the call made by the NIC “to have mitigative measures” implemented and would write to the government’s works implementing agency, the National Works Agency (NWA), as well as the Water Resources Authority to “inform them of the concerns”.

The NIC’s Felton Brown told the Observer that the pile-up of silt at the river’s mouth was most probably caused by the habit of “parking” boats there.

“The boats create a blockage and instead of water flowing out freely, there is a constriction and over time silt piles up,” Brown said.