wastewater management

Curaçao's coral reefs are subjected to a deteriorating momentum risking the health and therefore sustainability of this vital ecosystem. Despite the dependency of the Island's prosperity on the condition of the ecosystem, research suggests that wastewater management is likely to be a significant contributor to this effect. Incorporating both open literature results and information obtained from an extensive constructed research network, this study demonstrates essential aspects of the urban wastewater management system of Willemstad regarding the quantity and quality of the urban wastewater fluxes and their potential environmental implications. The system, which merely connects 33\% of Curaçao's population, is concluded to be outdated and insufficient with respect to capacity as well as treatment efficiency. Although it is solely designed for pure domestic wastewater, this study concluded and demonstrated the significant impact of illegal discharge onto this system by industrial sectors leading to both high contamination loading and increased wastewater volumes. The combination of these features is the major cause of wastewater discharge pathways into marine environments. Arising from the constructed urban wastewater flux model, which visualizes the wastewater management system, 14 discharge locations correlated to significant environmental contamination pathways are identified with Piscadera Bay, Rif Mangrove area, Playa Kanoa and Shut concluded as the utmost importance. Furthermore, the model revealed that the urban wastewater is predominantly directed towards the treatment plant Klein Hofje via either the northern trajectory (Bonam - Suffisant F - Garipitoweg - Argentianweg - Klein Hofje) or the southern one (SVB - Klein Hofje). Also, the quantity and quality of the fluxes are estimated based on the connected area and the potential industrial activities within it. However, validation of these estimations is recommended since no water quantity and quality analysis was performed or available for conducting the modelled estimations. Furthermore, since the system is partly a combined sewage system, hence harvesting stormwater fluxes as well, its effect is recommended to incorporate in the model and estimations for accuracy purposes. Lastly, the government reports that at least 90\% of all industrial wastewater is discharged either directly into the ocean or onto the sewer system. Since the actual ratio as well as the water quality remains unknown this is recommended for future research. Overall, this study enables tailored future research programs to overcome the discussed limitations and with that significantly contribute to eliminating the current existing white spot concerning the effect of urban wastewater fluxes on the marina ecosystem of Curaçao.

Abstract

Curaçao is a Small Island Development State in the Wider Caribbean Region. In the scope of sustainable development and the UN SDGs, these states are characterized by being extra vulnerable to environmental changes induced by climate change. One important way of adapting and mitigating is the sustainable management of natural resources such as water. Poor management of water and wastewater in particular is leading to social and environmental problems in Curaçao such as harming economical activities like fisheries and marine ecosystems. Nevertheless, social and environmental consequences of this poor management on land is hardly investigated. Therefore, this research was set up to explore the consequences on land through three approaches. First, by sorting out the current situation of wastewater monitoring in Curaçao on the managerial level by partaking in a government agency as a participant observer. Second, by exploring the occurrence of wastewater related diseases among the people of Curaçao. Third, by attempting to draw conclusions about ground water quality and its probable suitability for irrigation, by locating likely sources of wastewater pollution on the estimation of groundwater quality in Excel with secondary data of electrical conductivity. The findings include that wastewater management should be treated with more priority and that more efforts should be paid on consistency in responsibilities and storage of data. As to public health risks, the applied method did not find wastewater related diseases. Still, more thorough research on the matter is recommended. Lastly, overall groundwater quality in Curaçao is not directly suitable for irrigation. The water quality analysis with electrical conductivity provided a location to start further research where wastewater contamination might be occurring, but requires more methods to confirm whether this is actually applicable.