Good Decision Gone Bad

Myths and Fact on the Long Mountain project
Paul Bourne, BSc. (Hons.)



INTRODUCTION

Topology of typology - Jamaica


Eastern Jamaica represents extremely steep and rugged topography with the crest of the Blue Mountain Range reaching 2254 m within about 10 km of the coast. Landscape in eastern Jamaica is geologically young (Quaternary). It is seismically most active part of the island and appears to be undergoing geotectonic uplift. Watersheds are relatively small and steep. Rivers flow through steep canyons onto alluvial/debris fans before emptying into the Caribbean Sea. With the exception of alluvial fans, flat areas are rare in the parishes of Portland, St. Thomas, and Upper St. Andrew. Communities have settled on fans and development activities are hindered by a lack of flat land. Landslides are common and are perhaps the most widespread hydro geologic hazard on human timescale causing land degradation thus affecting land productivity. Bedrock structure strongly influences slope stability. Landslides preferentially occur in locations where the direction of dip of bedding in the shale and sandstone sequence daylights in slope faces. Landslides occurred both in the landscape modified for human use as well as on slopes under dense forest cover (Rafi Ahmad et al (2004) from the Departments of Geography and Geology)


Rafi et al went on to state that, "The vulnerability of Jamaica to geohazards is primarily due to inherent physical conditions arising from geologic, tectonic, and geomorphic factors. The island lies within a 200-km wide, seismically active zone of Neogene left-lateral strike-slip deformation that defines the central section of the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates (Mann et al., 1985)." They continued that, "It is located in the track of north Atlantic hurricanes passing through the Caribbean. The present-day topography on the island has largely resulted from crustal movements during Quaternary (Horsfield, 1974). The highly fractured and deeply weathered and altered bedrock and neotectonics control the landforms and geomorphic processes to a remarkable extent. Slope instability is notable throughout the island. These factors are well known and the resulting vulnerability can be forecast, however, case studies during 1986 to 1995 show that the costs of rehabilitation and reconstruction have increased in the wake of natural disasters" (Ahmad, 1995; Carby and Ahmad, 1995).

Kingston, the capital of island is situated on the Holocene gravel fan of Liguanea at the base of a faulted mountain front. This speaks to a ring of low hills of Tertiary limestones (Long Mountain, Dallas Mountain, and Stony Hill) borders the fan. Overlooking those geographic localities do the Port Royal Mountains (of St. Andrew) comprise Cretaceous to Paleogene rocks of the Wagwater Belt. Rafi et al contended that, "Lead-zinc-copper mineralization occurs at several sites within the Belt. Notable among the industrial rocks and minerals are vast reserves of gypsum and limestones." "According to Mann & Burke (1990), the Wagwater Belt of eastern Jamaica formed as a transverse intra-arc rift and it appears that the uplift and doming of the sediments in the trough is a consequence of compression at a right-stepping bend on the thoroughgoing, left-lateral Enriquillo-Plantain Garden-Swan fault system which forms the southern part of the plate boundary zone." (Rafi et al, 2004).

On Long Mountain, then, is it safe to carry out blasting which will displace rocks of an area, which is already on fragile topology? Answer- The openness of the island to geohazards is mainly due to natural physical conditions arising from geologic, tectonic, and geomorphic factors. Jamaica lies within a 200-km wide, seismically active zone of Neogene left-lateral strike-slip deformation that defines the central section of the boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates (Mann et al., 1985). According to Rafi et al, it is located in the track of north Atlantic hurricanes passing through the Caribbean. They concurred that "the present-day topography on the island has largely resulted from crustal movements during Quaternary (Horsfield, 1974). The highly fractured and deeply weathered and altered bedrock and neotectonics control the landforms and geomorphic processes to a remarkable extent. Slope instability is notable throughout the island."

Summary of the environmental profile of Kingston and St.Andrew (KMA)

In the arguments forwarded to this point Long Mountain, which is located in Kingston and St. Andrew, is known to be within a particular topological position in Jamaica and by extension in the Caribbean. Let us remind you of this fact, the city of Jamaica (Kingston) is located on the Holocene gravel fan of Liguanea to which at its base is a faulted mountain front where a ring of low hills of Tertiary limestones (Long Mountain, Dallas Mountain, and Stony Hill) borders the fan.

Geologists argued that, "Lead-zinc-copper mineralization occurs at several sites within the Belt. Notable among the industrial rocks and minerals are vast reserves of gypsum and limestone." Hence, why the present afoot in the construction of dwellings for humans on Long Mountain? Is the contamination of Long Mountain with buildings a political and economic decision verses an environmental decision within the context of sustainable development?

Management of the Environment


The management and the effective balancing mechanism of the economic, social and environmental factors are not simply a mathematical technique to which the solution is either calculus or any other statistical technique. But, it is a continuous drive to harmonize man's needs for survival, self-esteem, self-actualization, warm, a place to residence, the need for wellness and other social facilities; while synchronizing those demands with the reality and capacity of the environment with the understanding of not reducing future generations' consumption of the same quality space.


This harmonization of environment in the past (prior to the 1980s) was not done within the understanding of sustainable development but solely economics. In that, man would seek to consume as much of the environment without the comprehension that his/her future is inextricably linked to the environment. With the every expanding Westernization of the Caribbean and more so Jamaica, there is a growing need for commercial activities, social arrangement, dwellings, and facilities that are continuously demanding more of the environment.


Urbanization is one of the tools of Westernization. This phenomenon results in more and increasingly more of the use of the limited lands to which characterized the Caribbean. On the other hand; Pollution, deforestation, the destruction of wildlife, the watershed and the natural forestry are just a few examples of the rape of the land and by extension reducing the qualities of the land for future consumption by today's man.


Many advocates of urbanization blindly purport that this new phenomenon is modernity and development. As such, their views over the years up early 1990s have been the dominate position believed and utilized by governments in planning. This belief brought about a remarkable and unprecedented depletion of the ozone layer, solid waste problems, pollution - air, land and sea; ecosystems mismanagement, depletion of quality water supply, the increase in respiratory diseases and depletion of much of the environment to which man relies for survival. Those issues have resulted in the birth of institutions like Greenpeace and old institutions like the World Bank adopting and instituting measures that governments around the world will need to implement in order to alleviate environment issues.


Old institutions like the United Nation and World banks were not volunteers in the fight against environmental problems but it was a difficult struggle for those organizations to join the team advocating as they are today for sustainable development. Within the context of the insistence of many environmental watchdogs groups, advocacy over the years through their methods in marketing have enhance people's awareness of the numerous ecological hazards that are likely to destroy the environment. The issue of sustainable development within the reality of the negative environment implications of global warming, climate change, pollution, the depletion of the ozone layer, and the negative consequences of water borne diseases and problems of food supply and quality environment for man's consumption is a mammoth task for ecologists. The materialist foundation has been set on the agendas of influential institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nation to address the balance between environment and economics but some countries continue to adhere to their own devices and mechanisms.


Now that the World Bank Grouping of institutions have been involved with this new thrust on their agenda, they have been able to institute policies that are seeing more and increasingly more countries no longer being able to arbitrarily use solely economic costs-benefit analyses in decision making but issue of sustainable development.


While it is true that people have an insatiable appetite for consumption of goods and-or services than demands more of the environment, when an environmental audit is used it must be of materialist value in decision making and not be felt solely political and economic managers. The demand and supply of dwellings close to the urban centres is becoming increasingly more burdensome for political and economic managers in light of sustainable development.


Deforestation, degradation of the watersheds, the removable of natural wildlife and the displacement of rocks are becoming increasingly a reality in the Caribbean experience given the fact of limited land space, so much so that we are seeing more and more blatant rape of the environment.


Westernization which is termed urbanization in places such as Flanker, St. James; Portmore, St. Catherine; Mona Planes, St. Andrew and the ?'New Long Mountain housing development' opposite the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus in Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies cannot be continued across the island despite the need for housing because of the environmental impact of such decisions. In that, the ecological degradations must be priced, understood within the position of sustainable development and their negative implications on global encroachment. That is, there needs to be a balance between the environmentalists' and the economists' viewpoints otherwise only the economists' thought will benefits and not man to which it is designed in the first place.

Disposal of domestic sewage is a serious problem throughout the Caribbean. Raw or partially treated human or animal waste is routinely deposited in many areas. In Aruba, the pollution of ground water by sewage effluent is one of the factors that have necessitated the use of expensive desalinated water (Archer 1988).

In 1991, approximately 10 per cent of the population of the Caribbean was served by a centralized sewer system (Vlugman 1992). This statistic would have increased in the more recent past with the implementation of or extension of municipal sewerage systems in the major urban areas. Pit latrines were the main focal waste disposal system utilized in the Caribbean up to the 1980s, and they are still the main method in use along with pail closets in rural areas, particularly where running water is not available. Individual septic tanks and soak away serve much of the remainder of the population.

Packaged sewerage treatment plants accompanied the advent of planned residential developments, resorts and industrial estates in the 1960s, but because the systems are poorly maintained, they tend to malfunction or become altogether non-operational and consequently deliver raw sewage into ground and surface water. Hotel plants are known to discharge untreated sewage into inshore waters throughout the region (often from inoperative treatment plants); with destructive effects on coastal wetlands, coral reefs and sea grass beds.

In 1991, approximately 13 per cent of 138 plants surveyed in the eastern Caribbean were found to be non¬functional. Twenty-five per cent were considered to be efficiently operated, while 36 per cent were operated only moderately and 22 per cent were operated poorly (Vlugman 1992). Adopted effluent quality criteria were not being met by 75 per cent of the plants surveyed by Vlugman in 1992.

Pollution of land and water by sewage is a major public health hazard in several Caribbean islands, where low absorbability sub-soil conditions and high groundwater conditions prevail. In densely developed coastal areas such as Kingstown in St. Vincent and Basseterre in St. Kills, the height of the water table limits the absorptive capacity of the soil and heightens. The risk of sewage pollution of coastal waters is evident in the Caribbean during the large-volume discharges.

In a number of islands, outfall pipes have been damaged or destroyed by hurricanes and rough seas, and consequently pipes discharge raw sewage onto beaches and inshore marine areas (Archer 1988).

The problem of faecal contamination from land-based sources is compounded when yachts discharge raw sewage into the water. This is a particular concern where coral reef systems are involved. Reef and beach ecosystems in southern St. Vincent and southwestern Tobago are under stress from.

The past two decades have seen the increasing industrialization of some states. Paint manufacturers, food processors, metal works, petrochemical industries and battery manufacturers all generate toxic and hazardous solid and liquid wastes in increasing quantities. Facilities for the safe treatment and disposal of these wastes are severely limited. Waste is frequently stored on factory sites or vacant lots, disposed of in municipal dumps, or discharged into rivers with little or no treatment Inappropriate handling of lead wastes has caused the contamination of numerous sites and resulted in cases of acute lead poisoning in children Jamaica and in Trinidad and Tobago.

Surface waters are routinely utilized as receptors of untreated process waste effluent. Only 39 per cent of 140 small industries surveyed in 1995 (UNDP/ CARICOM Regional Sewage Disposal Project) undertook some degree of wastewater treatment. Approximately 64 per cent of the total wastewater was discharged into the coastal zone, sea, or surface water; 25 per cent was discharged into the ground (including soak away systems); 6 per cent was released into public sewers, and 4 per cent was utilized for crop irrigation (Sammy et al. 1995). These disposal practices were linked to unpleasant smells, water discoloration and reduced fish catches, and imposed health risks on users.

NATURAL and MANAFACTURED DISASTERS

The distinctive geological feature of the Caribbean is the Caribbean Plate, which underlies most of the Caribbean Sea. The movement of this plate relative to the surrounding coastal plates creates a halo of earthquakes and other tectonic activities that reveal the shape of the plate and the geological processes occurring around its periphery. Stresses along the eastern part of the northern boundary of the Caribbean Plate have caused uplift and subsidence,

AN OVERVIEW OF MIGRATION PATTERNS IN JAMAICA

According to Goldsheider (1998) migration is the "detachment from the organization of activities at one place and the movement of the total round of activities to another." That is, people who move from one place to another while changing their usual place of residence are migrants. This definition, however, excludes people who move from one place to another without changing their place(s) of abode. This includes vacation travelers and people whose jobs necessitate traveling from one place to another.

The categories most frequently used in the studies of migration distinguish between moves across international boundaries, (that are from one county to another international migration) and move between different places in the same country (that is internal migration). For example, a person who comes from Barbados to live in Jamaica here is called an immigrant. On the other hand, a person who leaves Jamaica to reside in Barbados is called an emigrant. Previously, those situations are within the scope of international migration (that of, emigration and immigration), whereas, internal migration speaks specifically to the changing of ones place of abode within the same the same geographically defined border. A typical example is an individual who removes from Southside, Kingston (irrespective of specificity of address) to reside permanently in Flanker, Montego Bay, St. James, Long Mountain, St. Andrew or from Caroni to St. Patrick in the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

A component in the population dynamics of any country is external migration. However, both internal and external migrations are important components of population change. External migration has been a major contributor to the reduction in population growth. Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago like other countries in Caricom are affected by internal migration in terms of the predominant rural to urban drift. External migration or the permanent change of residence from the country to another affects the population redistribution and change. Geographic mobility has played a major role in the distribution and redistribution of humans on the surface of this planet.

The internal and external movements are largely influenced by imbalance in the development process and associated push and pull factors. The process of immigration and emigration influences migration rate. Immigrants to Jamaica and the twin islands of Trinidad and Tobago may include returning residents, deportees, Commonwealth citizens and aliens. Both processes have affected these countries' population structure.

(Break)


Methods of waste disposal date from ancient times, and sanitary sewers have been found in the ruins of the prehistoric cities of Crete and the ancient Assyrian cities. Storm-water sewers built by the Romans are still in service today. Although the primary function of these was drainage, the Roman practice of dumping refuse in the streets caused significant quantities of organic matter to be carried along with the rainwater runoff.

Toward the end of the Middle Ages, belowground privy vaults and, later, cesspools were developed. When these containers became full, sanitation workers removed the deposit at the owner's expense. The wastes were used as fertilizer at nearby farms or were dumped into watercourses or onto vacant land.

A few centuries later, there was renewed construction of storm sewers, mostly in the form of open channels or street gutters. At first, disposing of any waste in these sewers was forbidden, but by the 19th century, it was recognized that community health could be improved by discharging human waste into the storm sewers for rapid removal.

Development of municipal water-supply systems and household plumbing brought about flush toilets and the beginning of modern sewer systems. Despite reservations that sanitary sewer systems wasted resources, posed health hazards, and were expensive, many cities built them.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a few cities and industries began to recognize that the discharge of sewage directly into the streams caused health problems, and this led to the construction of sewage-treatment facilities.

At about the same time, the septic tank was introduced as a means of treating domestic sewage from individual households both in suburban and rural areas. Because of the abundance of diluting water and the presence of sizable social and economic problems during the first half of the 20th century, few municipalities and industries provided wastewater treatment.

During the 1950s and the 1960s, the US Government funded the research on how to more effectively dispose of sewage because it became a concern as to its effect on the environment and human health.
In response to the need to make a coordinated effort to protect the environment, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law on January 1, 1970. In December of that year, a new independent body, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created to bring under one roof all of the pollution-control programs related to air, water, and solid wastes.

In 1972, the Water Pollution Control Act Amendments expanded the role of the federal government in water pollution control and significantly increased federal funding for construction of waste-treatment works. Congress has also created regulatory mechanisms and established uniform effluent standards.

TRANSPORT OF WASTEWATER

Wastewater is carried from its source to treatment facility pipe systems that are generally classified according to the type of wastewater flowing through them. If the system carries both domestic and storm-water sewage, it is called a combined system, and these usually serve the older sections of urban areas.

As the cities expanded and began to provide treatment of sewage, sanitary sewage was separated from storm sewage by a separate pipe network. This arrangement is more efficient because it excludes the voluminous storm sewage from the treatment plant. It permits flexibility in the operation of the plant and prevents pollution caused by combined sewer overflow, which occurs when the sewer is not big enough to transport both household sewage and storm water.

Chicago, Milwaukee, and other U.S. cities to reduce costs have adopted another solution to the overflow problem: instead of building a separate household sewer network, large reservoirs, mostly underground, are built to store the combined sewer overflow, which is pumped back into the system when it is no longer overloaded.

Households are usually connected to the sewer mains by clay, cast-iron, or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in) in diameter. Larger-diameter sewer mains can be located along the centerline of a street or alley about 1.8 m (about 6 ft) or more below the surface. The smaller pipes are usually made of clay, concrete, or asbestos cement, and the large pipes are generally of unlined or lined reinforced-concrete construction.

Unlike the water-supply system, wastewater flows through sewer pipes by gravity rather than by pressure. The pipe must be sloped to permit the wastewater to flow at a velocity of at least 0.46 m per sec (1.5 ft per sec), because at lower velocities the solid material tends to settle in the pipe. Storm-water mains are similar to sanitary sewers except that they have a much larger diameter. Certain types of sewers, such as inverted siphons and pipes from pumping stations, flow under pressure, and are thus called force mains.

Urban sewer mains generally discharge into interceptor sewers, which can then join to form a trunk line that discharges into the wastewater-treatment plant. Interceptors and trunk lines, generally made of brick or reinforced concrete, are sometimes large enough for a truck to pass through them.

NATURE OF SEWAGE

The origin, composition, and quantity of waste are related to existing life patterns. When waste matter enters water, the resulting product is called sewage or wastewater.

A Origin and Quantity

Wastewater originates mainly from domestic, industrial, groundwater, and meteorological sources and these forms of wastewater are commonly referred to as domestic sewage, industrial waste, infiltration, and storm-water drainage, respectively.

Domestic sewage results from people's day-to-day activities, such as bathing, body elimination, food preparation, and recreation, averaging about 227 liters (about 60 gallons) per person daily. The quantity and character of industrial wastewater \s highly varied, depending on the type of industry, the management of its water usage, and the degree of treatment the wastewater receives before it is discharged. A steel mill, for example, might discharge anywhere from 5700 to 151,000 liters (about 1500 to 40,000 gallons) per ton of steel manufactured. Less water is needed if recycling is practiced.

Infiltration occurs when sewer lines are placed below the water table or when rainfall percolates down to the depth of the pipe. It is undesirable because it imposes a greater load on the piping system and the treatment plant. The amount of storm-water drainage'to be carried away depends on the amount of rainfall as well as on the runoff or yield of the watershed (see Drainage).

A typical metropolitan area discharges a volume of wastewater equal to about 60 to 80 percent of its total daily water requirements, the rest being used for washing cars and watering lawns, and for manufacturing processes such as food canning and bottling.


B Composition

The composition of wastewater is analyzed using several physical, chemical, and biological measurements. The most common analyses include the measurements of solids, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and pH.

The solid wastes include dissolved and suspended solids. Dissolved solids are the materials that will pass through a filter paper, and suspended solids are those that do not (see Filtration). The suspended solids are further divided into settleable and nonsettleable solids, depending on how many milligrams of the solids will settle out of 1 liter of wastewater in 1 hour. All these classes of solids can be divided into volatile or fixed solids, the volatile solids generally being organic materials and the fixed solids being inorganic or mineral matter.

The concentration of organic matter is measured by the BOD5 and COD analyses. The BOD5 is the amount of oxygen used over a five-day period by microorganisms as they decompose the organic matter in sewage at a temperature of 20° C (68° F). Similarly, the COD is the amount of oxygen required to oxidize the organic matter by use of dichromate in an acid solution and to convert it to carbon dioxide and water. The value of COD is always higher than that of BOD s because many organic substances can be oxidized chemically but cannot oxidize biologically. Commonly, BOD5 is used to test the strength of untreated and treated municipal and biodegradable industrial wastewaters. COD is used to test the strength of wastewater that is either not biodegradable or contains compounds that inhibit activities of microorganisms. The pH analysis is a measure of the acidity of a wastewater sample (see Acids and Bases). Typical values of solids and BOD5 for domestic wastewater are given in the accompanying table. The organic matter in typical domestic sewage is approximately 50 percent carbohydrates, 40 percent protein, and 10 percent fat; the pH can range from 6.5 to 8.0.

A typical range of values cannot readily characterize the composition of industrial waste because its makeup depends on the type of manufacturing process involved. The concentration of an industrial waste is usually placed in perspective by stating the number of people, or population equivalent (PE), that would be required to produce the same quantity of waste. PE is most commonly expressed in terms of BODS. An average value of 0.077 kg (0.17 Ib) 5-day, 20° C BOD per person per day is used for determination of the PE. The population equivalent of a slaughterhouse operation, for example, will range from 5 to 25 PE per animal.

The composition of infiltration depends on the nature of the groundwater that seeps into the sewer. Storm-water sewage contains significant concentrations of bacteria, trace elements, oil, and organic chemicals.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT

The processes involved in municipal wastewater treatment plants are usually classified as being part of primary, secondary, or tertiary treatment.

A Primary Treatment The wastewater that enters a treatment plant contains debris that might clog or damage the pumps and machinery. Screens or vertical bars remove such materials, and the debris is burned or buried after manual or mechanical removal. The wastewater then passes through a comminutor (grinder), where leaves and other organic materials are reduced in size for efficient treatment and removal later.
Grit Chamber in the past, long and narrow channel-shaped settling tanks, and known as grit chambers, were used to remove inorganic or mineral matter such as sand, silt, gravel, and cinders. These chambers were designed to permit inorganic particles 0.2 mm (0.008 in) or larger to settle at the bottom while the smaller particles and most of the organic solids that remain in suspension pass through. Today, spiral-flow aerated grit chambers with hopper bottoms, or clarifiers with mechanical scrapper arms, are most commonly used. The grit is removed and disposed of as sanitary landfill. Grit accumulation can range from 0.08 to 0.23 cu m (3 to 8 cu ft) per 3.8 million liters (about 1 million gallons) of wastewater.

2. Sedimentation With grit removed, the wastewater passes into a sedimentation tank, in which organic materials settle out and are drawn off for disposal. The process of sedimentation can remove about 20 to 40 percent of the BOD5 and 40 to 60 percent of the suspended solids.
The rate of sedimentation is increased in some industrial waste-treatment stations by incorporating processes called chemical coagulation and flocculation in the sedimentation tank.

Coagulation is the process of adding chemicals such as aluminum sulfate, ferric chloride, or polyelectrolyte to the wastewater; this causes the surface characteristics of the suspended solids to be altered so that they attach to one another and precipitate.

Flocculation causes the suspended solids to coalesce. Coagulation and flocculation can remove more than 80 percent of suspended solids.
3 Flotation An alternative to sedimentation that is used in the treatment of some wastewaters is flotation, in which air is forced into the wastewater under pressures of 1.75 to 3.5 kg per sq cm (25 to 50 Ib per sq in).

The wastewater, supersaturated with air, is then discharged into an open tank; there the rising air bubbles cause the suspended solids to rise to the surface, where they are removed. Flotation can remove more than 75 percent of the suspended solids.

Digestion is a microbiological process that converts the chemically complex organic sludge to methane, carbon dioxide, and inoffensive humus like material. The reactions occur in a closed tank or digester that is anaerobic?-that is, devoid of oxygen. The conversion takes place through a series of reactions. First, the solid matter is made soluble by enzymes, and then a group of acid-producing bacteria, reducing it to simple organic acids such as acetic acid, ferments the substance. The organic acids are then converted to methane and carbon dioxide by bacteria. Thickened sludge is heated and added as continuously as possible to the digester, where it remains for 10 to 30 days and is decomposed. Digestion reduces organic matter by 45 to 60 percent.

D Drying Digested sludge is placed on sand beds for air-drying. Percolation into the sand and evaporation are the chief processes involved in the dewatering process. Air-drying requires dry, relatively warm weather for greatest efficiency, and some plants have a greenhouse like structure to shelter the sand beds. Dried sludge in most cases is used as a soil conditioner; sometimes it is used as a fertilizer because of its 2 percent nitrogen and 1 percent phosphorus content.

B Secondary Treatment Having removed 40 to 60 percent of the suspended solids and 20 to 40 percent of the BOD5 in primary treatment by physical means, the secondary treatment biologically reduces the organic material that remains in the liquid stream. Usually the microbial processes employed are aerobic?-that is, the organisms function in the presence of dissolved oxygen. Secondary treatment actually involves harnessing and accelerating nature's process of waste disposal. Aerobic bacteria in the presence of oxygen convert organic matter to stable forms such as carbon dioxide, water, nitrates, and phosphates, as well as other organic materials. The production of new organic matter is an indirect result of biological treatment processes, and this matter must be removed before the wastewater is discharged into the receiving stream.
Several alternative processes are also available in secondary treatment, including a trickling filter, activated sludge, and lagoons.

I Trickling Filter In this process, a waste stream is distributed intermittently over a bed or column of some type of porous medium. A gelatinous film of microorganisms coats the medium and functions as the removal agent. The organic matter in the waste stream is absorbed by the microbial film and converted to carbon dioxide and water. The trickling-filter process, when preceded by sedimentation, can remove about 85 percent of the BOD5 entering the plant.

2 Activated Sludge This is an aerobic process in which gelatinous sludge particles are suspended in an aeration tank and supplied with oxygen. The activated-sludge particles, known as floe, are composed of millions of actively growing bacteria bound together by a gelatinous slime. Organic matter is absorbed by the floe and converted to aerobic products. The reduction of BOD5 fluctuates between 60 and 85 percent.
An important companion unit in any plant using activated sludge or a trickling filter is the secondary clarifier, which separates bacteria from the liquid stream before discharge.

3 Stabilization Pond or Lagoon Another form of biological treatment is the stabilization pond or lagoon, which requires a large land area and thus is usually located in rural areas. Facultative lagoons, or those that function in mixed conditions, are the most common, being 0.6 to 1.5 m (2 to 5 ft) in depth, with a surface area of several acres. Anaerobic conditions prevail in the bottom region, where the solids are decomposed; the region near the surface is aerobic, allowing the oxidation of dissolved and colloidal organic matter. A reduction in BOD5 of 75 to 85 percent can be attained.

C Advanced Wastewater Treatment if the receiving body of water requires a higher degree of treatment than the secondary process can provide, or if the final effluent is intended for reuse, advanced wastewater treatment is necessary. The term tertiary treatment is often used as a synonym for advanced treatment, but the two methods are not exactly the same. Tertiary, or third-stage, treatment is generally used to remove phosphorus, while advanced treatment might include additional steps to improve effluent quality by removing refractory pollutants. Processes are available to remove more than 99 percent of the suspended solids and BOD5. Processes such as reverse osmosis and electrodialysis reduce dissolved solids. Ammonia stripping, denitrification, and phosphate precipitation can remove nutrients. If the wastewater is to be reused, disinfection by ozone treatment is considered the most reliable method other than breakpoint chlorination. Application of these and other advanced waste-treatment methods is likely to become widespread in the future in view of new efforts to conserve water through reuse. See Absorption; Osmosis; Precipitation.

D Liquid Disposal The ultimate disposal of the treated liquid stream is accomplished in several ways. Direct discharge into a receiving stream or lake is the most commonly practiced means of disposal. In areas of the United States that are faced with worsening shortages of water for both domestic and industrial use, municipalities and state and federal agencies are turning to reuse of appropriately treated wastewater for groundwater recharge, irrigation of nonedible crops, industrial processing, recreation, and other uses. Many reuse projects are located in California, Arizona, and Texas.

The first large-scale wastewater-reclamation plant in the United States is the Denver Water Department's Potable Reuse Demonstration Plant. The one-million-gallon-per-day plant was built to demonstrate the quality, reliability, and economic potential of reuse on a large scale. The quality and health-effects testing program, ended in 1993, after successfully meeting its goal of producing drinkable water from reclaimed water. The reused water was tested against the regular drinking water received by Denver residents and found to be equally drinkable. The treatment process involves conventional primary and secondary treatment followed by lime clarification to remove suspended organic compounds. During this process, an alkaline (high-pH) condition is created to improve the process. In the next step, recarbonation is used to bring the pH level to neutral. Then the water is filtered through multiple layers of sand and charcoal, and ammonia is removed by ionization. A granular, activated-carbon filter absorbs pesticides and any other dissolved organic materials still present. Viruses and bacteria are then killed by ozonization. At this stage, the water should be cleansed of all contaminants, but, for added reliability, second-stage carbon adsorption and reverse osmosis are used, and chlorine dioxide is added to attain the highest possible water standard. Similar reuse programs are underway in the southwestern United States, Saudi Arabia, and the Netherlands.

E Septic Tank A sewage treatment process commonly used to treat domestic wastes is the septic tank: a concrete, cinder block or metal tank where the solids settle and the floatable materials rise. The partly clarified liquid stream flows from a submerged outlet into subsurface rock-filled trenches through which the wastewater can flow and percolate into the soil where it is oxidized aerobically. The floating matter and settled solids can be held from six months to several years, during which they are decomposed an aerobically.

We have presented a series of dialectic arguments on Long Mountain development in order that our entire reader thorough grasp the complexities and other factors that were possible injected within the decision making process of the development. Notwithstanding our subjective position forwarded earlier, we believe that the matter of Long Mountain development debate should not die a natural death as the other mishaps in our society. As a result, this article is stance for furthering of the consciousness of such a stance. We hope that before the entire tree and shrubs wither very away that not such rape of the society's resources will ever be accomplished because of University of the West Indies' students not acceptance of the destruction of the environment from here onwards.



CONCLUSION



In the Long Mountain Country Club development, there are 462 town houses, sixty studios, and forty five three bed room homes. With the controversy surrounding the project, a compromise was reached that see 14.34 acres of land reserved for a green belt and 6 areas devoted nature reserve and bird sanctuary. Contrary to popular perspective on the highly unsuitability of the site, a research commissioned by NEPA discloses a hard lime stone floor with the entire site being capable of sustaining development. Another concern, from the environmentalists, was whether the underground water would be contaminated due to poor drainage or sewage seepage. In responding to this social inquiry, developers have provided an overt rationale by stating the framework of the site. This they pointed out is cemented drainage systems which reduced the probability of water contamination.

Many pundits are pointing to the concern of soil degradation and harm done to indigenous plants and animals as a result of the housing-development. The issue appears to be dialectic as research show that of the 90 species located in that area, 15 of them were indigenous to Jamaica, but only one was indigenous to that area. The rest of the foliage consisted manly of woody plant, trees, shrubs and monocots. In addition, the site's development has been fashioned in such a way that it posing no foreseeable danger to the Mona Reservoir. While the natural soak away point in that area is located to the northern most part of the site and that point has been reserved as a recreational place on that site. Long Mountain itself is surrounded by looses sediment rock in the Liguanea area, and this some writers argue is medium in the suitability of the topology despite the proximity of the water dam.

Findings from geological research, to date, have discovered that Wagwater Trough is prone to earthquake but that the Long Mountain development is structured on recrystalized limestone, which makes it highly secure. NEPA concurred with those findings when it highlighted that the reserved typology for construction is relatively satisfactory for development. A geological research revealed that there are many unseen underground caves, with sink holes in proximity to the site range and river systems and underground caverns. The findings included open joints and fracture in the area; in addition to Tectonic movement that may lead to limestone plateau delineated by steep fault scarps. Therefore, the typologies of the site's topology are unique and introduce questions in regard to the monitoring and evaluation processes of the project as against the socio-political biases that resulted in a decision in favour of the development.

Presently the pathway to the site is through an established residential community (Karachi), which has a road network for a period in the history. This newly constructed community is opposite the Saints Peter and Paul Preparatory school and adjacent the Beverly Hills community. The entrance to this area is still under construction. Despite those actualities, Long Mountain Country Club continues to fashioned itself within the context of upscale dwellings and human activities.
Many writers believed that there is imminent risk of land slides even though some channels have been created for water run offs. They argue within the context of soil and land removal that puts huge amount of stress upon the hill side and gravitational pull my cause it to quake. Over time the risk becomes more apparent as the land is now exposed to major soil erosion and man made excavations. Already much of the hill side has been built into by neighboring Beverly Hills home owners and so the stability of the mountain has already been diminished somewhat.

In the plight to discourage the extent to which an earth quake can be utterly devastating, nations should petition again construction of building in potentially hazardous areas. The removable of existing, structurally unsound building should be undergone, and earth quake safety mechanisms should be added into the structure of the building. Home owners that enforce this concept should be given financial, or tax free incentives, so as to encourage the behavior. Most importantly, persons should be educated about proper disaster management.

The Long Mountain area has also been sighted as a location very exposed to the effects of threatening hurricanes. Originally the mountain acted as a shield again some of the risky high wind but presently the lives and well being on the owners of homes at the top are at risk. Also, by removing such and vulnerable aspect of the mountain, the flooding risks are extraordinary high, with small derby fans located at the base of the mountain creating no comfort.

To their perspective the site should have been relocated so as to ensure that people nor the environment are not exposed to and form of hazards or dangers due to carelessness. However in the cases where relocation is not always plausible, they suggest the proper precautionary measures should be put into place to sustain the safety and integrity of the area. Structural reinforces could be built into the side of the slope so as to reduce the risk of land slide, the gradient of the slope could also be reformed so as reduce the rate of erosion and soil slippage.

In respect to pollutants, the site has safe guards against oil and garbage disposal and the like; while drainage system does not interface with the livelihood of their neighbours as the cut offs allow the free passage of storm waters to be collected into the inceptor drain prior to entering the reservoir and then channeled into the August Town gully near by. The difficult that may arise is the non-maintenance of those drains and the continuous assessment and monitoring of that area. The developers proposed that the remaining fifty percent of the run-off generated by the site is expected to flow down the south western slopes of Long Mountain towards near by communities such as Mountain View Ave., and Hampstead Terrace. From this information, this kind of run-off poses a risk of localized flooding for those areas and this is a consequence that is still to be addressed by developers. Some writes forwarded the perspective that this may be rectified by the building of rock beams at the base of the hill in order to control the movement of rock debris, and to reduce the energy flow of the water flow of the area; which implies that gullies that existed in the areas, prior to construction, must be properly cleaned and maintained so as to ensure against the disruption of lives of other community members.