THE US$50-million Soapberry facility, which has been treating sewage from the Corporate Area since 2007, cannot by itself clean up the long-polluted Kingston Harbour – the seventh largest natural harbour in the world.

However, both the operators of the waste water treatment plant and the National Water Commission (NWC) say the plant – located west of the Riverton City dump and which treats 30 per cent of the Corporate Area’s waste water – is having a great impact in halting the pollution of the harbour and the death of its important ecosystem.

A half-mile journey through the canefields south of Ferry on Mandela Highway brings one to the Soapberry plant, a highly scientific but low-tech facility consisting of 16 ponds circulating sewage led from two collection points in Kingston’s west end.

The sewage enters the ponds as a dark gray, foul-smelling soup. But after three weeks of reaction with a culture of bacteria, algae, sunlight and special filters in the ponds covering 570 hectares, it is converted into clear water which meets stringent international standards of being clean enough to be pumped into a nearby river leading into the harbour, or to be used in irrigation of agricultural lands.

“The development of a waste water treatment facility like Soapberry was proposed for many years.

Thankfully, through the collaboration of the NWC, the NHT (National Housing Trust), the UDC (Urban Development Corporation) and Ashtrom (a private construction company) it was successfully implemented,” the NWC’s Charles Buchanan told Environment Watch.

Moshe Saldinger, general manager of Wastewater Operation and Management Company Ltd which operates the Soapberry plant, explained that the facility safely disposes of 20,000 cubic metres of treated effluent per day into a nearby river. This means that this water treated to international standards is going into the harbour, unlike the inadequately treated refuse that was going into the harbour up to two years ago.

But despite the improvement, a lot more needs to be done before it can be said that most of the waste liquid going into the sea is properly treated.

“Sewage disposal contributes to the state of the harbour but there were many other contributing factors. For example, areas that are not sewered and not under the control of the NWC contribute significantly,” Buchanan said.

To address this problem, the NWC is spending $1 billion over the next three years to bring areas in Kingston and St Andrew on to the central sewer system.

Areas off Hope Road, Liguanea, Ruthven Road, Trafalgar Road, Lady Musgrave Road and others in New Kingston have been connected since 2007, and parts of Constant Spring Road and Manor Park are to be added soon, says Buchanan.

Meanwhile, Saldinger is concerned that the disposal of waste into the sewers by domestic and commercial interests is unreglated, and toxic substances are dumped into the sewer as a result.

“We see blood, paint, other chemicals, petroleum-based liquids, construction material,” Saldinger told Environment Watch.

He pointed out that the disposal was not illegal, but that arrangements needed to be made to treat such fluids before they get to Soapberry.

At the moment Soapberry is still underutilised, as it operates at only 40 per cent of capacity.

Saldinger is also anxious to see the 20,000 cubic metres of treated water now going to waste daily, recycled for use in irrigation projects.

“This water is of a very good quality. It has a lot of nutrients so we could save a lot of money now spent on fertilisers,” he noted.

The price tag of US$50 million may seem hefty to some, but it is the price that is necessary for development over the city, perhaps over the next century, says Saldinger.

“Let’s face it, how can you have a city without a sewage system?” he asked.

Two other phases are planned for the expansion of the Soapberry plant.