THE filth and garbage, which have been driving hordes of bats out of a number of sinkholes in sections of southern Manchester, will eventually cause districts to flood during heavy rainfall, the Jamaica Caves Organisation (JCO) has warned.

In addition, the JCO is calling on the Alpart bauxite company to ask its workmen not to cover sinkholes during land reclamation exercises, saying this will also increase the risk of flooding.

According to chairman of the JCO, Stefan Stewart, sinkholes are very important forms of drainage during heavy rainfall, and filling them with marl, boulders, bauxite waste and garbage was recipe for an environmental disaster.

“The hydrological connectivity of the Newport district is being altered in a way that has no historical precedent. The eventual outcome of the blocking of natural drains by way of mining and rafted garbage is unpredictable, especially when events such as hurricanes are factored in,” Stewart told the Sunday Observer.

This warning comes at a time when weather experts are predicting an active hurricane season.

A sinkhole is a natural depression in the surface topography caused by the removal of soil or bedrock by water. Sinkholes may vary in size from less than a metre to several hundred metres in diameter and depth, and vary in form from soil-lined bowls to bedrock-edged chasms. They may be formed gradually or suddenly.

The JCO team conducted an extensive study of the sinkhole network in southern Manchester, and compiled a report on the condition of the sinkholes. The report cites at least six known sinkholes that no longer exist.

“Sites have been destroyed through the severe alteration of the surface morphology in the entrance area during mining activities and the inevitable filling of associated shafts,” the report states.

“Sites that were left untouched due to the lack of suitable ore concentrations have been subsequently filled during reclamation activities to achieve a landscaping aesthetic that seems more suitable to a New York suburb than the karst topography of southern Manchester,” the report continued.

The JCO alleged that bulldozer operators employed to Alpart have told them that sinkholes are often filled during the land reclamation phase of bauxite mining. Meanwhile, the holes that are not filled are used as dumping ground for large boulders, the JCO claimed.

According the JCO report, 15 sinkholes in Manchester have either been degraded by bauxite mining activities or solid waste disposal.

The Sunday Observer recently went on a futile search for three sinkholes, called the Blenhiem caves, in the Newport district. Our news team followed coordinates cited in Alan Fincham’s book, Jamaica Underground, and a report done between 1954 and 1966 by the Geological Survey Department.

According to 72-year-old Ralph Ledford, who has lived in the area all his life, the sinkholes were covered after mining activities in the area had been completed.

“When me was a boy me use to go inna the sinkhole dem. Them cover them up, and make a road leading to Welkin over one of them,” Ledford said as he pointed to the spot where one of the sinkholes used to be.

The Sunday Observer also saw evidence of sinkholes being dumped with marl and rocks at Watson district and the Pussclaw Hole – so named because of the prickles which grow around the edge of the hole – in Old England, where bauxite mining is currently under way. Bauxite soil has blocked a section of the sinkhole.

Thousands of bats live in sinkholes, and Stewart warned that their natural habitat was being destroyed. Bats eat mosquitoes, worms and other insects that eat away at farm produce. They are also important to the growth of rain forests as they pollinate flowers and trees and drop fruit seeds.

The report has since been sent to officials at Alpart.

Lance Neita, who heads the public relations department at the mining company, acknowledged that the company had received the document.

“We have got the report and are reviewing it. We are grateful to the JCO for giving it us and we will be looking into how we can address this,” Neita said. But it is not only the bauxite miners who are polluting the underground water supply in southern Manchester. Residents in a number of districts have been dumping their waste in the sinkholes.

Nowhere was this more noticeable than in the Snowdon district. A mound of garbage more than 20 feet high choked the entrance to a large sinkhole, despite a National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) warning that persons caught dumping garbage there would face prosecution.

There was also garbage at the mouth of three other sinkholes in the Newport area.

But the Manchester residents say they are forced to dump their waste in the sinkholes because they have been saddled with a poor trash collection system. The garbage trucks visit infrequently, the residents complained. At the same time, most of them who spoke to the Sunday Observer admitted that they were not aware of the environmental damage which could result from the unhealthy practice.

“We can’t keep the garbage in our house. If it was being collected regularly maybe you would find less dumping in the sinkholes,” one resident said.

In an effort to raise awareness about the importance of sinkholes to the island’s underground water supply and aquifers, the JCO is planning to take representatives of Alpart, the National Environment and Planning Agency, the Jamaica Bauxite Institute, the Water Resources Authority and residents of various communities on an educational tour of the affected areas on May 13.

Of particular concern to the JCO is the newly discovered Smokey Hole at Cross Keys in Manchester, where bauxite mining is scheduled to begin shortly. Stewart and his team at JCO have already explored the sinkhole, and claimed it the deepest hole found in the island.

“The surveyed depth was 194 metres, which exceeded the previous record of 186 metres at Morgan’s Pond Hole, also in Manchester,” the report said.

Stewart said the May 13 tour was geared at showing the damage that has already been done to some sinkholes, in order to save Smokey Hole.

“We need to save Smokey Hole, and we think teaching the people about its importance to Jamaica will certainly aid us in our mission,” Stewart said.