WILLEMSTAD - Curaçao still has no solution for the processing of chemical and other wastewater. This is dumped into the ocean like it is the most normal thing in the world.

Despite the promise of the minister Zita Jesus-Leito in 2018 to stop the discharges into the sea.

Ursel Cordilia of the Ministry of Urban Planning says that Curaçao has an antiquated system which was built by Shell in the 1960’s. Cordilia explains that back then only a few neighborhoods were connected to this system. But after 1980 more neighborhoods were connected and these installations did not have the capacity for this increase.

“The installations are old. There are several parts that need to be replaced. That is why we have decided that we will construct a completely new installation but without yearly budget that won’t be possible now,” says Cordialia.

This means that for now, the ministry will just use the available funds to replace the necessary parts. “We need to continue with the water purification, and we cannot wait until there are enough funds to construct an entirely new installation,” said Cordilia.