THE DESIGN for a water recycling project at the Denbigh 4-H Centre in Clarendon has been completed and discussions for the start of construction are well advanced, according to the manager for the centre, Andre Anderson.
Mr. Anderson said that as soon as the funds were received from the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), construction would begin. The cost of the Grey Water project is $2.1 million.
With the new project, water from the centre's bathroom drain pipes, including all liquid from face basins and kitchen sinks, will be collected and channelled into one central system. This does not include solid waste water.
TO BE STORED
The water will then be filtered and stored in a 20,000 gallon storage tank. "From that tank, it will be pumped back to irrigate our lawns during the drought period as well as our organic vegetable production plot here at the centre," Mr. Anderson explained.
A compost heap will be established at the centre, as well as at the Warminster Centre in St. Elizabeth. "This is vermi composting, using Californian earthworms to break down organic matter into manure that will be used for our lawns and gardens," he said.
For the Warminster centre, a fertigation system will be used. "In this system, we will be using organic matter from our goat-rearing unit. This matter will be mixed into a 400 gallon water tank and then it will be filtered through irrigation pipes to irrigate our organic vegetable plot," Mr. Anderson added.
"It's a very diverse project with a lot of prospects and one that I believe a lot of other agencies will want to replicate when we complete our set-up there," he said.
Mr. Anderson said the system at Denbigh was also very active during the national Denbigh Agricultural Show, "so we believe it is an opportunity to show other persons how they can actually reduce solid waste pile-up at their homes and also reuse waste to make valuable materials."
