7 News Belize

The Macal Is A Hot Mess Too!
posted (October 3, 2019)

Twin Towns Mayor Earl Trapp has organized a Macal River clean up. For the past two days residents as well as town council members have been in the river raking up algae and litter from the river. According to the Mayor, this algae build up started in March and it has turned the river an unsightly, gooey green and the river is not flowing as it used to. 

The clean-up continues tomorrow and Mayor Trapp is asking the public to assist. Here is our phone interview with Mayor Trapp.

Earl Trapp - Mayor, San Ignacio
"I appeal to the public to be a part of it and I think 2 people showed up yesterday and today an additional 2, but we used the staff from the San Ignacio Town Council and we began to clear up and clean the algae that honestly, I didn't realize it was so devastating. To be honest, I thought it was just like half or less, but it's taking up the river from between the 2 bridges at least, more than 3 quarter, I would say 90%. I didn't realize it was so bad, and when I really looked at the junction that we had, I thought it was the stone that were really getting black by the mud or the dirt that was going from the main drains into the river. Tomorrow is the third day and hopefully by tomorrow, we can get all the way up to the Hawkesworth Bridge but I doubt it because it's a lot, it's just too much for the 20 people that are working out there. So we're hoping that people will join us but this weekend I won't be able to do it, I have a commitment, but we'll continue the following week and I hope people would come out and continue what we began."

The mayor says he will contact the DOE to make an assessment as to what is really going on in the Macal river. We note that the Minister of State for environment Omar Figueroa is the area rep for Cayo North.

Home | Archives | Downloads/Podcasts | Advertise | Contact Us

7 News Belize