Ecobreves – CUBA: Sewage Treatment for Beach

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

HAVANA, Mar 28 2005 (IPS) - The Sibarimar Program, led by the Cuban non-governmental group Pronaturaleza, aims to eliminate dumping of wastewater along Guanabo Beach, the most visited beach in the east of the Cuban capital. ''Guanabo was not urbanized under a unified plan, so it doesn't have an integrated sewage network. Today we have three critical points of discharge into the sea,'' program coordinator Mario González told Tierramérica.

The mission is to create a single sewage system for the zone, as well as treatment plants and lagoons away from the beach, as part of a management plan for the bay where Guanabo is located.

After a process of nearly for years, the project has approval of the local government and should be initiated as soon as possible, said González.

The local population of Guanabo is 18,000, but along its 2.5 km of beach, as many as 100,000 or 120,000 people crowd on summer Sundays.