The Editor,
The Anguillian

Dear Sir:

Some weeks ago the Government and the media drew attention to several illegal dumps in the western areas of the island and from the photographs I saw the situation was not only deplorable but dangerous.

In order to better understand the scope of the situation I took it on myself to visit some of the areas. I noted two things, in particular, apart from the ugly spectacle. One was that in this rainy season the huge piles of containers provide excellent opportunities for the breeding of mosquitoes. No wonder there are so many of these creatures infesting the island and, along with the flies, threatening the population with disease.

The other thing I observed was the number of galvanize sheets and other objects which hurricane winds can throw around like lethal missiles causing serious damage to life and property.

Despite the wide publicity given to the illegal dumping sites, I have not heard of any plans by Government or its Environmental Health Unit about cleaning up the areas. Who is responsible for this? I know about one case where one of the landowners paid a backhoe operator to clean up his property. Should all property owners bear this burden or should Government step in and take some action in the national interest?
One way of dealing with the situation may be to examine the garbage for any clues as to its origin. This is because it is generally believed that the bulk of it was dumped from business places whose truck drivers may have simply emptied their load into the bush paths, and other clearings, rather than make the journey to the only official dumping site at Corito. If some trace could be found as to the ownership of the garbage, the Environmental Health Unit may be able to force someone responsible to remove the offending mass of litter.

The illegal dumping brings two questions to mind. One is whether the regulations governing the Corito dump site need to be revisited to see if they are placing any difficulty on persons to deposit their refuse there at any given time. Do the hours for dumping need to be looked at or there any restrictions that should be adjusted to facilitate users of the dump site?

The other question is where are the Litter Wardens? With all the talk, why haven’t they been appointed to give some valuable assistance to the Environmental Health Unit? I belong to a school Environmental Club and we do a lot of community work at times; and I think there are people who must get their act together to keep our beautiful island clean not only because we are a tourist destination but because Anguilla is our island and we need to safeguard the health of our people and the welfare of our island.

Jean A. Richardson

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