ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: UNDP to the Rescue of Havana Bay

By Patricia Grogg Reprint | | Print |

Patricia Grogg

HAVANA, Oct 17 2001 (IPS) - The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is seeking to drum up international assistance for cleaning up Havana Bay, the country’s most heavily polluted ecosystem.

The UNDP’s resident representative in Cuba, Luis Gómez Echeverri, said he was negotiating with European countries and Japan to draw them into the effort to rescue the bay, which is being coordinated by the Havana Bay Task Force.

The UNDP office hopes Belgium’s recent commitment of around 900,000 dollars will help attract additional international cooperation.

Belgium’s contribution will help improve the solid waste collection system around the bay. The funds will also go towards a new centre on environmental information and education, the purchase and installation of air quality monitoring equipment, and sewage treatment.

Italy, meanwhile, is providing nearly 1.3 million dollars to finance the construction of a solid waste treatment plant on the lower stretch of the Luyano river, which carries industrial waste from the northeastern part of the capital to the bay.

In addition, sources with the UN agency in Cuba confirmed that a new project with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) – which is run by the UNDP, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Bank – is almost ready to be signed.

The project, to be funded by 3.7 million dollars in aid, will entail the construction of a second water treatment plant, farther upstream on the Luyano river.

The clean-up of the 5.2-square kilometre Havana Bay was one of the objectives of a project that ended in 1998, to which the UNDP and GEF contributed 2.5 million dollars.

Ships enter Cuba’s main port, which has an average depth of nine metres and a total volume of 47 million cubic meters of water, through a 1,574-metre long and 104-metre wide canal.

In June 1998, the socialist government of Fidel Castro set up the Havana Bay Task Force involving 12 scientific, administrative, technical and service entities, to coordinate clean-up, conservation and development efforts around the bay.

The Task Force has the authority to approve investments, construction and services in the area of the port, after making sure that they are environmentally sound.

It was also empowered to take the necessary action to check the dumping of waste and other pollutants, and to propose strategies for providing economic incentives for companies that commit themselves to decontaminating the bay.

Last year, the Task Force launched a 10-year clean-up programme, partly funded by the taxes paid by firms that use the services offered by the bay.

The plan, which according to experts will require 100 million dollars in investment, will be comprised of an initial five-year stage of eliminating solid waste and hydrocarbons and steadily reducing the organic waste flowing into the bay from the city and nearby industries.

The programme is also aimed at increasing oxygen levels in the bay, to gradually bring back to life the marine flora and fauna, and to reduce the stench.

The next phase, from 2005 to 2009, will focus on eliminating the urban and industrial waste carried into the bay by rain run- off, preserving nearby coastal areas, and bringing the seabed back to life.

Studies conducted in the 1980s found that a daily average of 100 tonnes of organic waste and 33 tonnes of hydrocarbons from various industries were dumped into the bay, which used to be one of the most heavily polluted bays in the world, according to the UNDP.

Among the biggest culprits is the Ñico López oil refinery, city sewer pipes, and freighters and cruise ships. Others are the Luyano, Martin Perez and Arroyo Tadeo rivers that carry untreated waste into the bay.

Experts warn that Havana’s sewer system, which dates back to 1908 and was designed to handle the waste produced by a maximum of 600,000 people – not today’s 2.2 million residents – constitutes a source of pollution for which no solutions have yet been found.

An estimated 70 percent of the organic waste dumped into the bay comes from rain run-off, clandestine sewage connections and the rivers that empty into the bay.

The clean-up has already somewhat increased oxygen levels in the bay, thus making possible the gradual return of marine life that pollution had killed off or kept away for so many years.

Official data indicates that 1,017 cubic metres of fuel and 3,896 cubic metres of solid waste were removed from the bay last year. Those totals stood at 1,515 and 1,332 cubic metres, respectively, in the first quarter of this year.