Bonaire wastewater problem

[bebo at sea]

I would like to ask for some help from the diving community. i believe that enough voices can make a change and I'm asking you to speak out.
The island Bonaire, yes, this is a Bonaire rant, does not have have an organized sewage disposal system, that's sewage and waste water. Generally on the island you build your building, dig some septic tanks nearby and lead all your waste water to them. Usually when the tank is full you call for the truck to pump it out. Except when your building is near the ocean, then you build a septic tank made up of four chambers. As the water flows from chamber to chamber the heavy particles stay in the first chambers and relatively clear water reaches the fourth chamber, clear but toxic.
At the fourth chamber the hotels have drilled a twenty to thirty foot well hole right into that porous rock that leads the clear toxic water out onto the reef. A thirty foot well hole would generally be twenty feet below the waterline. Is there anyone who thinks this is a good idea?
So that we're clear on this, the very people who are entrusted with the care of the reefs, and who profit the most from it, are the ones poisoning the reef.
There is the marine park STINAPA who have spoken out but that's it. they are very concerned with plastic bottles and neem trees, but poison in the sea? not so much.
Hopefully this will bring out a response from the bonaire hotels and dive shops, on bonaire they hide.
The bonaire hotels and dive shops are the islands' largest employers, together they should be able to do anything. There is a plan for a piped sewage system, it's laughable and with an island government it is years away.
Understand that the reason the hotels aren't pro-active is that pumping the septic tanks out costs money, dumping sewage into the sea is free. This behavior from the word's leader in marine environmentalism, profit before reef ecology.

Want a second opinion? check online bonaire reporter "environmental concerns".
What i'm asking you to do is go online for bonaire hotel web sites and tell them that you agree or dis agree with what they're doing. heck, tell the dive shops too. i would supply you with the addresses but i think it's better if you look them up.
Enough voices should make a difference, public opinion should count.
Now, if you've made up a letter that you are cut and pasting to everyone please include a copy to captain don stewart , the man who started Bonaire on an environmental path.(also found online) he's been hollering and fussing about this problem for more than ten years, and they ignore him. let him know you're on his side.

thanks, bebo

 

[Tim Ingersoll]

I know that Bonaire is going to opt out of independent status and become a trust territory of the Dutch government. They are apparently doing so in order to upgrade their legal and health infrastructure. Wouldn't they also have to meet stricter Dutch environmental standards?

 

[lmorin]

When in Bonaire during January, we spoke to folks who live there (at Sand Dollar) about this issue. It is upsetting to a number of people in the resorts along the coast.

We were told that there are two methods of sewage disposal. The most common is to pump out a holding well once or twice per week and have it trucked (via honey wagons) to the center-island dump site. This is where the cruise ships send their pumped waste, too. The other method adopted by just a few of the resorts, is to pump it into the ground as described above.

think there needs to be some public exploration of which resorts use which method. Divers may wish to let that influence their decisions about where to stay.

With respect to change, we also were told that there is a plan to place a main sewage pipe along the road behind the entire stretch of resorts. From what we understand, it would extend from Plaza Resort northward to Captain Don's. However, as might be expected, the timetable keeps drifting and completion tends to remain 3-5 yrs down the road. Hopefully, the Dutch influence will make the date reachable.

There is an ongoing water quality experiment being performed at a number of locations at the edge of the reef where the water is about 30 ft deep (one is in front of Sand Dollar). You may see coke bottles serving as underwater floats for some gadget kept at about 10-15 ft depth. A group of scientists have involved a number of year round residents to keep the measuring devices clean of growth. The devices are cleaned weekly by the volunteers and periodically the data are collected from the devices which are detecting changes in several characteristics related to water quality. I think these will yield a very interesting, year round approximation of what is or is not going on.

At least one of the resorts has refused to allow a measuring device at its reef. It happens to be a resort that puts its waste sludge into the ground. Or, so I've been told. (I am not going to name names because my information is all second hand. Perhaps others can verify it).

I'd like to know what some of you who have been going to Bonaire for many years think of the current state of water clarity compared to the way it was 2, 4, 8, 16 etc yrs ago.

 

[HarveyO]

Another alternative is that the sewerage is run through pipes to a centralized treatment facility that would treat the wastewater befor discharging it into the ocean. Unfortunately this is an expensive alternative and if history elsewhere is a guide, it will most likely not occur before a regulatory agency requires them to do so.

 

[stortecky]

Another alternative is that the sewerage is run through pipes to a centralized treatment facility that would treat the wastewater befor discharging it into the ocean. Unfortunately this is an expensive alternative and if history elsewhere is a guide, it will most likely not occur before a regulatory agency requires them to do so.

The problem is that it has to equal dollar and cents NOW. They probably all know it is destroying the reefs now. But it doesn't hurt their pocket book now. If one hotel started to charge more to be environmentally friendly they would see some people but most would got the the cheaper place to save a buck. It is the same thing that happen in the states with manufacturers in the 60s they dumped everything into the rivers, it was free at the time. Bonaires has to set up fines and penalties like harvey said. Otherwise it is easier to turn a quick buck now and worry about the effects of it later. Everyone must be forced to do it or it will NEVER happen. They can talk about this pipe for 20 years. Set up a fine system and it will happen in a year or two.

sorry that is my rank after a couple of beers.

 

[H2ODoc]

... you build a septic tank made up of four chambers. As the water flows from chamber to chamber the heavy particles stay in the first chambers and relatively clear water reaches the fourth chamber, clear but toxic.
At the fourth chamber the hotels have drilled a twenty to thirty foot well hole right into that porous rock that leads the clear toxic water out onto the reef. A thirty foot well hole would generally be twenty feet below the waterline. Is there anyone who thinks this is a good idea?...

"clear but toxic"

A properly built septic system will not produce "toxic" water. The chambers are party designed to settle solids (that do need to be pumped out from time to time), but also there to give bacteria time to consume the waste and organics. The last step of allowing the water to flow through porous rock serves to filter the water.

Not sure what your level of expertise is in this area, but septic systems are used all over the world and do the same exact thing as a treatment plant. The key is to ensure they are designed properly and maintained.

Waste treatment plants do nothing but aerate the water to allow bacteria to work quickly on the waste, then filter the water before discharge. Same thing as a septic system.

So, to answer your question "does anyone think this is a good idea?". I say, yes. It is. What else do you propose they do? Store sewage in big tanks and haul them away every day?

 

[driftwood]

The lower portion of Bonaire is essentially a limestone rock. Nice porous material that will not capture all the waste deposited on it. All the remaining nutrients will find their way to the ocean and feed algae (among other things) which is a killer of reefs. The only long term solution for Bonaire is a central treatment plant that disperses the treated effluent over a broad area that is generally used as a golf course. Please don't complain if you hear that a golf course is planned for Bonaire. The remaining solid waste is treated and makes fantastic compost. In this case, a golf course will save the reef by using the nutrients. It is a very elegant solution that has been proven to work along the corridor between Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.

A plant sized to handle waste for Bonaire could be finished in a year or two. Build the plant first and then start working on sewer lines than will connect the resorts. There is already a system for trucks to deliver the waste to the plant. It is the sewer lines that take so much time/expense/disruption to install, not the treatment plant.

BTW, I don't play golf.

 

[H2ODoc]

The lower portion of Bonaire is essentially a limestone rock. Nice porous material that will not capture all the waste deposited on it. All the remaining nutrients will find their way to the ocean and feed algae (among other things) which is a killer of reefs. The only long term solution for Bonaire is a central treatment plant that disperses the treated effluent over a broad area that is generally used as a golf course.

Phosphate is a necessary nutrient to feed algae. Phosphate-containing water would be stripped of phosphate as it runs through limestone - "porous" or not. I can bore you with the details, but I won't. Some power plants control the growth of algae in cooling water holding ponds simply by removing the phosphate.

Fertilizers for a golf course, however, would be a huge nutrient source for all types of organisms - nitrates, phosphates, etc. Will grow algae/bacteria like mad.

The reality is that whether you use a properly designed septic system or a waste water treatment plant, you will discharge organics and nutrients back to the ocean at some point. Minimizing those, is a great idea, however more and more expensive the higher quality you'd like to return.

Eliminating all humans from the island would solve most of the problem. Not sure if that's workable, though.

 

[bebo at sea]

.okie-doke here we go.
STINAPA went to the water company and asked how much water all the hotels used in a month, then they went to the "honey" truck company and found out how many truckloads are hauled a month (and who isn't hauling at all) then they did some guessing as to how much waste water is used on plants and how much water evaporated from the swimming pools. the end figure was around fifty thousand gallons a day goes out on to the reefs.(conservative figure)STINAPA wrote about this in august 2008, bonaire talk might have a copy.
so this would mean several truck loads of "honey" A DAY from each hotel.
all waste water on the island is put into the ground, that's not a solution ,it's a holding place.
a septic tank without AIR is toxic sludge. Habitat has a system of small balls in their septic tanks. as the balls turn in the water more surface area is exposed to air . habitats' waste water has been measure at about 60% less toxic as any other hotel. this was an expensive system and i admire that they are trying. If i had this system in my septic tanks I'd be telling everyone, yet habitat is silent. i think this is because the hotels together have a solidarity of silence. lets not talk about it and no one will know. remember, they intentionally drill holes to let the waste water out to sea, it's not accidental.
bonaire is just another small island among many small islands, who cares what they do. BUT, boanaire is on an international level in the area of reef conservation and they are blah, blah, blah about how wonderfully environmental they are, yet the hotels dump their sewage in the sea. this is unconsciable.
This is why I'm asking you to speak out. Cut and paste the same letter to all the hotels, to the tourist board, to stinapa. make them do something. Whaa, whaa, whaa, the government will do something in a couple of years. Go to bonaire talk , people significantly smarter than me are saying bonaire doesn't have a couple of years.

 

[H2ODoc]

Bebo at sea:

Just be careful of junk science.

A septic tank without air is called an anaerobic digester. They are used all over the world.

The term "toxic" is misleading. Pure water is toxic if you drink enough of it. Nitrogen is toxic if that's all you breathe, etc. There are very scientific tests to determine the quality of the water - BOD, COD, Minnow tests, etc. There is no test that can determine if water is "toxic" or "more toxic".

You are obviously passionate about protecting the reefs, and I think it's fair to say that we all have the same concern. All I'm trying to say is that it doesn't sound like the hotels are being negligent in treating their water if they are using a septic system.

Could it be better? Yes. Would Bonaire be more idyllic with 1/2 as many visitors? Yes. Would it be absolutely pristine without any people? Sure. Would it be great to have a $100 million waste treatment plant? Yep.