Cabinet Minister Matthew Samuda has assured that Dunn’s River in Ocho Rios, St Ann poses no public health threat, noting that all bodies of water on earth contain some levels of coliform.
“There was an elevated sample (at Dunn’s River) that was checked. Follow-up samples have shown that Dunn’s River… is as safe as it has ever been, and we encourage all… of you to visit,” Samuda stated.
The minister’s response at Wednesday’s Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ‘Choose Jamaica’ Forum at St John’s Anglican Church Hall in Ocho Rios, St Ann followed a report from the St Ann Health Department that was presented at the recent monthly meeting of the parish’s municipal corporation.
The report suggested that Dunn’s River was among three recreational water areas in the parish that had the presence of total and faecal coliform levels.
Coliforms are bacteria that are always present in the digestive tracts of animals, including humans, and are found in their wastes.
When asked about the development relative to Dunn’s River, Samuda, who has ministerial responsibility for water, reiterated that there is no current threat to the water at Dunn’s River.
“There isn’t a body of water on planet earth that doesn’t have some coliform levels,” Samuda declared.
He elaborated that, “The way public health samples these systems, it gives you a snapshot in a moment of time, meaning that a child could have been in the water at the same time and had an accident, and that could have registered in your testing.”
Samuda indicated that the Government has shown very clearly that if there are water quality issues in “any part of our leisure environment, we have no problem closing that particular area”.
He pointed to the recent closure of the Harmony Cove Beach in St James due to a water quality issue that needed to be fixed by the authorities.
In previous years, he said the authorities also closed Hellshire Beach in St Catherine when there was a water quality issue there.
“I assure you for any body of water that you see operating, it is because there is no public health emergency that warrants any closure,” Samuda stated.
