Watershed Management Plan to Be Implemented At New River

For months, changes in the appearance of the New River in Orange Walk have raised concerns regarding the health of the water and the living organisms within. Several assessments have been carried out in order to identify the issues and plans of implementing a new watershed management system are in the works. Tennielle Hendy, Principal Hydrologist at the National Hydrological Service, spoke about the situation.

 

Tennielle Hendy, Principal Hydrologist, National Hydrological Service

“I haven’t seen any gases being emitted, so that’s a good thing, but I can tell you that the issue that contributed to the new river situation is what I said, surface water and groundwater being linked.  If we over abstract, we take water, we just waste it, it has an impact on our groundwater and the groundwater provides base flow, which keeps our rivers and streams alive. If we waste the water and we remove that outflow into that river system, then you will get all kinds of things happening. It’s a delicate balance. Flow provides mixing, oxygen, different, chemicals, natural processes within the river require that influence, requires that movement. The New River is basically flat, which means that it doesn’t have slopes, and slopes help us with mixing. When we are flat, we kind of stay a little bit stagnant, it takes a little bit longer time for things to travel. So there are multiple reasons. We are committed, along with the Department of the Environment, to doing a watershed management plan for the New River. So we’re looking forward to bringing to the table implementation plans such as these for funding in this conference.”