A satellite image of the section currently being worked on. At the bottom right corner is the bridge close to the Moravian Church. The road at the top is F.T. Williams Highway
ST. KITTS--For many years, the public has been exposed to excessive soil erosion and flooding along the College Street Ghaut. Against this backdrop, work to reduce land degradation in the College Street Ghaut area began on June 12.
The focus of the current works will be on the middle section of the ghaut from the bridge adjacent to the Moravian Church up to the bridge that crosses St. Peter’s Road. The total length to be worked on is approximately 2,300 feet. The work is expected to last six to seven weeks and to be completed by mid-August.
St. Kitts and Nevis Project Coordinator of the Global Environment Facility-funded Integrating Water, Land and Ecosystems Management in Caribbean Small Island Developing States project GEF-IWEco, Halla Sahely highlighted that the public has an important role to play in addressing the impacts of land degradation in the Federation.
“We need to work together to ensure that there is no illegal dumping of solid and liquid waste inside of the ghaut. These pose a major flooding and public health risk and contribute to increased soil erosion. Livestock farmers should refrain from allowing their animals inside or near the banks of the Ghaut,”she said.
Sahely outlined the project’s goal and deemed it an important initiative. “The overall goal of the sub-project in St. Kitts and Nevis is to reduce and reverse land degradation by an integrated water, land and ecosystems management approach. The project would strengthen the institutional capacity, improve the policy framework and facilitate pilot projects within the College Street Ghaut watershed in St. Kitts, and key quarry sites and nearby wetlands and coral reefs in Nevis,” she added.
The first component of the works will be removal of excess vegetation and solid waste from inside the ghaut. The Parks and Beaches Unit is tasked with the clean-up exercise. Next, excess sediment will be removed from behind the weirs (retaining walls) located inside the ghaut. Debris and sediments will also be cleared from culverts and drains.
A specialised work crew will then begin to stabilise the banks of the ghaut through installing gabion baskets and planting grasses and trees strategically located to stem soil erosion.
The Department of Environment is the lead agency with funding from the GEF in implementing a pilot project in St. Kitts and Nevis titled “Addressing Impacts of Acute Land Degradation in the College Street Ghaut in St. Kitts and Quarries and Sand Mining Hotspots on Nevis”. St. Kitts and Nevis is one of 10 participating countries in the five-year multi-focal regional project GEF-IWEco.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the lead Implementing agency in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The United Nations Environment Caribbean Regional Coordinating Unit CAR/RCU and the Caribbean Public Health Agency CARPHA will serve as co-executing agencies.
