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Penal/Debe Regional Corporation chairman Gowtam Maharaj – Photo courtesy Penal/Debe Regional Corporation Council Facebook page
PENAL Debe Regional Corporation chairman Gowtam Maharaj says the relevant authorities are working to clean up an oil spill in the South Oropouche River, but is warning the public to exercise caution near the waterway until it is completed.
Maharaj told Newsday the spill was discovered in the river on August 23 near Ramrattan Maraj Trace, Debe, and Heritage Petroleum Ltd was alerted.
He said the company had since mobilised clean-up operations and had deployed two booms in the river near Suchit Trace to contain the oil.
“This morning (August 24) there is a crew on boats in the river picking up any oily substances and particles and leaves and so on that are there.”
He said vacuum trucks were also available to help contain the substance.
“We have asked the residents to continue to be observant and report, as they have done yesterday (August 23), probably any other developments they see.
“We’ve also asked them to take precautionary measures of not using any open flames in the area (and) do not use the area for any type of consumption whether animals or plants and to be in the accompaniment of others should they be using the river for any activity so should there be any noxious fumes or so they would have support.”
He said that while no one lives near where the main spill is, the river is used by many as a source of income.
“Those rivers go straight into the mangrove areas, it goes into the Pluck Road/Woodland area. There are operators that may be doing fishing, crab catching (and) all of that. It’s a very active area.”
Maharaj said Heritage is currently testing the substance to determine the source of the spill. Newsday was unable to get a comment from the company. However, Newsday was reliably informed investigations have not yet found a source of the spill but it is not located near any Heritage installations. It is believed the two barrels worth of oil could have been dumped.
