Today I woke up to a series of pictures on Facebook that showed water runoff purportedly from the Silver Sands project in Grand Anse. It shows the origin of the water flowing in an open drain and finally termination in the sea. The water was described in these words:
“These pictures were taken today on Grand Anse Beach and shows dirty, smelly water being pumped from the Silver Sands project site into the sea. Is this the best solution? The sea is now polluted in the general area. Is this Pure Grenada or poor Grenada?”
Now the questions that come to mind are;1. Are there infrastructure in place to support the drive towards this Tourist economy and the selling off of the beachfront property especially in and around our “World Famous Beaches”? 2. Do we have laws in place to protect the environment and ultimately the health of the Grenadian people? 3. Is the Government planning ahead with laws and infrastructure before inviting foreign investments that notoriously don’t care about the country they are doing investments except how they can maximize their profits in the shortest time possible, or are we reacting to issues as they pop up? Is this a fly in the soup governance where you just scoop up the fly with some of the soup and life goes on?

My last visit to my homeland revealed to me that the Harbor is also suffering from the same issue as the area around the Old Empire Cinema or now it is a Cigarette factory I think is showing the effects of dumping runoffs into the open water in the middle of the City where the water is going nowhere and showing resulting pollution. Who should be held accountable for protecting our environment? The country is just recovering from a devastating experience with Chick-V and one of the reasons for the rapid spread and 100% saturation was open standing water all over the country. Another issue and one that I have seen over the last year is the occurrence of a phenomena that result in a rapidly growing tumor on the face of individuals resulting in disfiguration and almost total obstruction of breathing, eating, and talking functions. Are we dealing with related issues?
Are the Grenadian people privy to the negotiations pertaining to the development of the tourist industry and its impact on the FUTURE of life on the island? Do the people who are making the decisions have the life experience, patriotism, and or training to guard the delicate natural balance of the country?

Some questions that come to mind are: Where does the laundry water from the hotels with all its detergents and other chemicals go? How is sewage handled? Is sewage just runoff into the sea or is in septic tanks systems, and if so when the septic tanks are cleaned what happens to the extracted sewage?
Are we aware of chemicals used in the different industries that are introduced to the country and their adverse effects on the environment (plants and animals and sea life) and the health of the natives? When gambling is introduced do we have laws in place to handle the expected problems that accompany this industry and of course the officers trained and capable of dealing with sophisticated criminals that are plying that trade?

Should we consider seriously going back to basics and making a real effort to revive Agriculture and develop the products to command a real international market? Should scholarships promoted by the Government target areas that could lead to the development the Island through a comprehensive development plan over X years?