Part I “One Stinky Island”: The Battle of the Stench

“One Stinky Island”: The Battle of the Stench

This week’s column stinks!!

TripAdvisor ranked Eagle Beach as the top beach in the world earlier this year. Everybody in the government bragged about this and high-fived each other with another great accomplishment. Many in the community, however, frowned about this. They frowned because this award contrasts sharply with the sewage issues and the potential for – or actual –  overflows that could threaten the pristine Eagle Beach caused by our believed Bubali Plas a.k.a. RWZI. They frowned because they had read a 2019 report titled:  Coral Reefs Baseline Study for Aruba 2019. A report prepared by: Dr. Mark Vermeij (CARMABI, Curaçao), Dr. Kristen Marhaver (CARMABI), Andrew Estep GCRMN, and Dr. Stuart Sandin Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Now you ask yourself why #YourFavoriteColumnist would pick up on an “old” 2019 report. Well, because just last week, a decision from the Court of First Instance of Aruba was published that is directly related to the Bubali Plas. 

The stench in our court!

In a recent court ruling, I learned of a pressing problem that has plagued Manor Beach Resort in Aruba and its surrounding areas for years – the Bubali wastewater plant (RWZI). If you don’t know where it is, drive by the lowrise hotels, and your nose will guide you. This case sheds some light on the environmental impacts, the broken promises, and the urgency of taking action to address the challenges facing the RWZI.

The court order

The court has ordered the government to install two identical aerators at the RWZI within 120 days of today. These aerators will be added to the three already in place. The court also instructs that the GoA revise three additional brush aerators and put them into operation, fix and put a previously modified but defective brush aeration in operation, and sanitize the oxidation ditch at the RWZI. These actions must be carried out between 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM The government is fined Afl.10,000 per day, or a fraction thereof, if it fails to comply with the order. 250,000.

The decision dates back to November 23rd, 2022. At the time of writing this column, I don’t know if the government complied with the 120 days mandated by the court, but I can count to 120, and I know that the 120 days have passed, and it still stinks out there. Even worse, tourists and residents complain about this regularly on social media. Soon we will be known as “One Stinky Island”.

Facts of the case

As the owner of RWZI, the GoA is responsible for processing sewage in a large portion of Aruba’s hotel district. The RWZI’s current capacity, approximately 4,500 cubic meters of wastewater per day, falls far short of the influx of around 8,000 cubic meters daily, almost double the capacity. This overload is evident. The RWZI’s operational processes produce an unpleasant smell depending on the contamination level and the inflow amount. Manor Beach and other hotels are located downwind from the plant and have been severely affected by the foul smell and the presence of flies.

Manor Beach has engaged in numerous discussions and negotiations with the GoA to resolve the problem of persistent odors. A settlement agreement was reached in 2002 following a dispute brought by Manor Beach. The GoA agreed to implement measures to alleviate this problem. The issue persisted despite all efforts. A 2006 court order imposed further restrictions, prohibiting the GoA from conducting sludge-movement activities during the daytime to minimize the impact of Manor Beach. The situation was not resolved.

Manor Beach signed a new agreement with the GoA in 2007. In this agreement, Manor Beach committed to providing a guarantee to RWZI while the GoA committed itself to stock spare parts for the machinery of the plant, passing sewerage legislation, and taking every possible measure to prevent ongoing odors and fly nuisance.

In 2018 TNO Caribbean released a report that revealed alarming facts about the RWZI. The report highlighted concrete degradation, inadequate aeration, and the negative impact of the Bubali Plas. The report states that the various issues could cause irreparable damage to marine life, corals, and coastal erosion. The Government has yet to make progress despite expressing its concerns regarding the TNO report in 2020 to the authorities. Despite promises of priority and attention, tangible actions have yet to be taken. Manor Beach reached a breaking point in a letter of September 2021 and wrote to the Minister for General Affairs, Innovation, Government Organization, Infrastructure, and Spatial Planning. The letter emphasized that no meaningful improvements had been made, the odors and fly nuisances were still present, and the water treatment plant urgently needed overhauling. Inaction has severe consequences, including long-term damage to Manor Beach Resort NV and Aruba’s reputation as a tourist destination.

The 2022 government allocated funds for urgent maintenance (a/o repairs) of the RWZI. This allocation was removed from the approved September 2022 supplementary budget. Are you freaking kidding me? This removal raised concerns with Manor Beach over the commitment of  the GoA to resolve the issue. Yes, you read that right, REMOVED. This is a low-priority item for the government. The GoA did not respond to a recent email Manor Beach’s director sent proposing ways to reduce odor nuisances. This was the infamous last drop. Not the drop that overflowed into Eagle Beach but the drop that led to the court case.

The Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity Report

What can we learn from the Carnabi report? For one, sewage water is dumped into the Bubali Plas for treatment. There are also several areas where untreated sewage is discharged directly into the ocean, specifically in Savaneta Bayerlite and two sites near Pos Chikito & Colony. The report is 48 pages long, but I think it says that in certain areas, we are dumping sewage untreated into our ocean and that in Bubali, we dump sewage in the Bubali Plas for treatment. However, from the court decision, we learned that the treatment facility in Bubali, the RWZI is, on the one hand, broken, and on the other hand, the RWZI is severely overloaded and thus is not able to treat the water properly. That causes the stench and when too much water overflows into our beaches. The same beaches that “won” us the Number 1 Beach in the World Award. I don’t know about you, but after writing this, I certainly need a drink to digest this. I recommend you have one too. Perhaps that will keep us from getting sick to our stomachs.

Is this good for our beaches?

My common sense would tell me not.​​ According to the report, the high levels of turf algae, cyanobacteria, and other toxins would make it necessary to classify the condition of Aruba’s coral reefs along its entire West coast as “critical”. I am no expert, but if the experts say the state of our coral is “critical”, I think we, at the very least, would think we have a problem. Then again it appears that no significant action is being undertaken by the GoA to grab the bulls by the horn and solve this. 

What will we do?

I guess we will continue to ignore the situation until we all regret it. The notion that transferring the operations from the Department of Public Works (DOW) to a state owned company will solve the problem does not make any sense to me. The reality is that the treasury is empty, we do not have the resources. We are sitting on a ticking time bomb and when that bomb explodes we will have plenty of fecal matter to go around. I am afraid the contamination will hit our precious beaches and we will be able to watch the whole mess live on TV with 24×7 coverage of CNN, Fox and all the major news channels with headlines like “What was once One Happy Island is now “One Stinky Island”. Tourism will take a hit, all those new hotel rooms we are adding will remain empty. The  2030 expansion of the airport won’t do us any good if tourists decide to stay away and find a destination that doesn’t have that stench in the air. Who would want to pay to swim in contaminated water? Privatize the damn thing. Let’s get a handful of creative engineers in a room and task them to find a solution that will treat the water properly and make it commercially sustainable and profitable. I bet you I can sell a ton of that sewage water once it is treated.

Natural disasters

I recently came across a video that showed the natural disasters we faced globally. Blizzards in NY, record low temperatures and record high temperatures, floods and landslides in Brazil, wildfires in Canada all and that is just through May of this year. Aruba isn’t immune from the effects of climate change. Just look at the heat we have been facing these past couple of days. The Bubali Plas isn’t a natural disaster but if we keep up ignoring this reality and continue to manage it poorly, we will face the consequences and it is going to stink.

Legal reality

I can probably find a few good brains to create a business model for the RWZI but if policymakers don’t pave the way we will remain stagnant, just like the sewage water. The engineering or environmental problem is now a legal problem. One hotel, that we know of, already sued the government and won. The government potentially faces penalties if they didn’t act within the 120 days of the verdict. Other hotels or condominium owners are likely to follow. Our revenue model drives on those tourists coming in, but if they get wind of the stinky situation – no pun intended – our revenue will suffer. Yet policymakers don’t seem to care, even worse those who live far enough from Bubali Plas or who don’t have to be in the area don’t care. Just like those who live far from the dump(s) of Parkietenbos don’t care either, but we have to care, we have to voice our concerns and we need to demand action from our leaders. Our leaders are silent on the subject. Ignorance is bliss. Mind you the decision of the court was made in November of 2022. The media didn’t cover it. Were it not that my law firm partner Bryan found the decision when you was published last week perhaps nobody would know. 

Call to Action

We must demand that our leaders take action and be held accountable for the environmental problems we face. The recent court decision regarding the Bubali waste water plant shows that the government must address the sewage problems and possible beach overflows which threaten our beloved Eagle Beach. We can’t afford to watch passively as our beautiful beaches are harmed. Come together and express your concerns. We need to demand that the government take immediate action to protect our environment and ensure the proper operation of the RWZI. It is time to protect Aruba’s natural beauty and ensure its future as an attractive and sustainable tourist destination. Let’s advocate for a clean, odor-free Aruba.