EPA lacks equipment to measure noise nuisance

Aug 28, 2020 News

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently not equipped to measure noise nuisance.

The response email sent to an affected resident by the Environmental Officer of the EPA, Jasmin Adams

This state of affairs was brought to the fore after residents of D’Aguiar Park and Houston Gardens, East Bank Demerara (EBD) complained of being affected by noise coming from the John Fernandes Container Terminal at Mandela Avenue, Georgetown.
For more than three years now, residents from these communities said that they have been bombarding the EPA with countless emails, complaining about the unbearable noise and dust pollution from operations at the container terminal.
However, over the years the government agency, reportedly, never gave the residents a definite response to address their concerns but instead merely acknowledged receipt of their emails.
In January of this year, a reputable resident of D’Aguiar Park decided that he will solely represent his neighbours by pressing the EPA to investigate and solve their concerns.
After nearly seven months of persistence by the man, the agency finally conducted a complaint investigation into the concerns but could not solve

Environmental Officer of the EPA: Jasmin Adams

the issue.
This, this publication was told, is because it lacks the necessary equipment to do so.
In an email sent to the resident on August 25 by the EPA Environmental Officer, Jasmin Adams, it was noted that the agency did carry out some investigations on July 31, 2020.
It was further stated in the email that, “due to the lack of equipment at the agency, the noise assessment could not be conducted at the time of the investigation.”According to the EPA official, the “agency has taken strides to procure the said equipment and shall conduct a follow-up investigation once achieved”.

Photo taken from a home of a resident showing the close proximity of the terminal’s operation

The residents of the community found this response “very disappointing”.
They responded in a subsequent email to EPA, venting their frustration.
The residents told the agency that after waiting so long for a solution, it is very disturbing that they are now forced to endure the unbearable noise nuisance until EPA is fully equipped.
One man told Kaieteur news that he endures sleepless nights because of the constant banging sounds of empty containers at the terminal.
“Those people work 24/7, whole night and people cannot sleep, how are we supposed endure that until EPA get its act together?” he asked.
Another resident said that as a result of loud noises and the operation of heavy duty machine, the tiles on his walls would vibrate.
“The walls and everything would vibrate man and all day you are disturbed by banging sounds of metals.”
Yet another frustrated resident highlighted that many times police were called in during late hours of the night to stop operations at the terminal.
However, said the resident, the head at the container terminal would ignore the lawmen and continue operations throughout the entire night.
The resident also told Kaieteur News that his children are forced to live on allergy medications to combat the effects of the dusty conditions.

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