André Miller of the Coastal Zone Management
Unit which is one of the departments in the Ministry of Health and the
Environment dealing with the matter said that they traced the pollution to
activities upstream.
Springs are close to the surface and bacteria will reach spring water quicker
and easier than underground water. For example, when sampling started in
Whitehill, St. Joseph there were a few coliforms of faecal bacteria found in the
spring but as suck wells were dug upstream, the count increased ten times and
now exceed the acceptable limit.
Illegal dumping is also a problem. People may feel smart that they dump garbage
in the bush where it bothers no one but as the garbage rots, it creates
leachate, which is a liquid substance that may be concentrated with toxins and
harmful bacteria, that easily seeps into spring water. The users then
unknowingly gulp down thousands of bacteria with every mouthful of "cool,
clear, pure" spring water.
Not everyone becomes ill, though. Agatha
Greenidge, 91, and Ronald Thompson, 29, told the Sun they used the Porey Spring
all their lives and to the best of their knowledge, never became ill from the
water, and they may be hundreds like them. But there are also at least 500 other
people who became so ill they needed medical treatment.
Miller said that the ministry's first line of control was not in banning use of
the spring but reducing the pollution. Porey Spring, at which a pilot project
will be launched tomorrow night, is steeped in history.
A reservoir was built by the Quakers and bequeathed to the public when they left
the island. Historian Charles Shomberg recorded that "the water is
excellent, and there have been several projects formed for conveying it by an
aqueduct to Bridgetown."
He also noted that: "Porey Spring is famed for its fruit-trees, chiefly of
the orange species, which are considered superior to any other in the
island."
Seeing is still believing but in this case, it is difficult to see the bacteria,
making it necessary for a sensible approach to spring water use.
See also: Spring sickness