By Melissa Charles
Though it was not highlighted during the recent flooding in some East Coast villages, Greenfield residents said they too were affected by the spring tides and in fact, they still suffer every time there is a high tide.
Persons who live close to the seawall were the worst affected. And since the spring tides that affected villages lower down the East Coast, water has remained in some yards. Although only a few inches of water is on the ground now it is stagnant and dirty.
Residents said this was not a recent problem but one that has been plaguing them for years now. “Every time there is high tide we get water here,” resident Babsi Rajmangal said. The woman said she wears “long boots” to walk in her yard where she has to do all her chores. “My children don’t come downstairs because they scorn the place.”
She also said that nothing can grow in her yard because of the salt water that is constantly there and it does not run off but remains on the ground for weeks as there is nowhere for it to go.
Many persons have raised the levels of their yards, so that the water would not affect them. But some residents cannot afford to do so.
Mosquitoes breed in the stagnant water and one woman, Dhankumarie Singh, who has been living in Greenfield for two years, said that since all of her work has to be done downstairs, she has developed skin rashes.
Singh’s yard had pockets of water all over. However in the rainy weather or at high tide “it gets miserable,” she said.
Her neighbour Olive Roopwah told Stabroek News that she invested a lot to build up her yard, because she could not handle the stagnant water.
The problem lies with the channel beyond the koker, which is in dire need of de-silting. The koker cannot be opened because of the silt in the channel, which is very noticeable at the low tide.
The NDC has employed a pump located not too far from the koker and the pump attendant said that the pump works according to the tide. At low tide, it works from about 9 am to 1 pm. However this is only when the koker is not working.
He also said that the pump was only put into action when the gauge in the Greenfield canal read above 51; any reading below this means that the water level is normal. The attendant said that apart from the “silting problem”, the sluice door leaks and at high tide water gushes through.
For about one week, the area was dependent on the sluice to draw out the water since the pump was not working.
When contacted yesterday for a comment, Superintendent of works at the Grove/Haslington NDC Randolph Dos Santos told Stabroek News that he was aware of the silt problem. He said the pump in the area was to provide the drainage service until further plans could be made for the de-silting of the canal.
Parts of the seawall have eroded over the years from being constantly lashed by the high tides.
Residents said promises were made for repairs to be done, but nothing has been forthcoming for quite a while – a similar situation exists with the de-silting that needs to be done.
Fitzroy Tuesday a “born and grow” resident of the area pointed out eroded areas in the seawall and holes where seepage takes place. The man said that for years now his yard has water every high tide and it is worse when it rains. When there is sunshine, residents are given a reprieve but the situation changes drastically when the rains come again.
