Residents of Cane Garden Bay and Brewers Bay can look forward to pilot solutions to minimise flooding and sedimentation in their communities.

Work began on the development of hydrologic models to better understand storm water flows and pollution runoff in these watersheds.

The work is being carried out under the North Shore Integrated Coastal and Watershed Stabilisation Project and coordinated by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour.

Residents of both communities are encouraged to attend a community meeting hosted by the ministry and the visiting hydrology team to learn more about the project and to provide valuable local knowledge about flooding and runoff in the community. The community meeting will be held at the Ivan Dawson Primary School on Tuesday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m.

The end goal of the hydrologic modeling is to develop detailed designs for practical pilot scale solutions that will help to reduce flooding, sedimentation and nutrient pollution in both communities. The solutions designed will also be implemented under the project which is part of the wider European Union-funded Global Climate Change Alliance (GCCA) Project on Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) and Sustainable Land Management (SLM) in the Eastern Caribbean managed by the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS). 

A hydrology team from the Horsley Witten Group will be visiting the Territory and conducting field work in Brewers Bay and Cane Garden Bay to develop the models from Monday, April 25 to Thursday, April 28. While in the field the team will take measurements of ghuts, collect data on existing and previous salt ponds and mangrove areas, study existing drainage infrastructure, and assess the extent of unpaved roads and areas prone to sedimentation.

The resulting hydrologic models will provide a detailed understanding of the water budget for each watershed (water in and water out), the flow path of storm water, the capacity of the ghuts to carry storm water and flooding thresholds. The models will also quantify sediment and nutrient pollution.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, Mr. Ronald Smith-Berkeley encouraged community members to be supportive of and involved in the project.

He said, “The ongoing modeling is an important and historically missing step to ensure we develop sustainable and lasting solutions to flooding and sedimentation in Cane Garden Bay and Brewers Bay. I therefore look forward to the community being very engaged over the life of this project, including attending the community meeting this Tuesday. I also ask the support and cooperation of the property owners and residents in the area by facilitating access to and over properties to allow the necessary data collection.”

The watershed assessment follows work on a coastal dynamics model also being developed under the project to inform solutions to reduce coastal erosion and restore the beaches in the area. Work on the model started March 7 through 10 when Hydroinformatics Engineer, Mr. Graham Jervis, of Smith-Warner International visited the Territory to collect sediment samples from Brewers Bay Beach and Cane Garden Bay Beach and deploy wave recorders in both bays.

Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources and Labour, Dr. the Honourable Kedrick Pickering announced the initiation of the North Shore Integrated Coastal and Watershed Stabilisation Project in the House of Assembly on January 25, 2016.