MOHW Keeping an Eye on Possible Water Contamination  

The start of the rainy season is welcomed as Belize has been grappling with an extended heatwave for several weeks. However, the rain is not anticipated to come without risk. Earlier this week, Chief Environmental Officer Anthony Mai told us that, while the approaching rain would certainly assist in fire relief efforts, it poses a very real threat to water supplies in the affected areas because of the amount of ash that would run off into the waterways. We asked John Bodden, Principal Public Health Inspector at the Ministry of Health and Wellness, if they’re working proactively to combat this issue. Here is his response.

 

John Bodden, Principal Public Health Inspector, Ministry of Health and Wellness

“As it starts, we are the ones responsible for drinking water quality within the country. And we have had the discussion with our water labs to get prepared and we have the officers that will go out and do testing of these wells to give us a indication as to whether the wells are contaminated or not. The bigger picture I think is when we would be having flooding in the future. The ash that is still remaining on the surface will become contaminated. We have reached out to BWS to see how prepared they are and they are taking all these measures into consideration to ensure that they have the necessary filters and to do the necessary procedures that might be required.”