Brewery officially commissions waste water treatment plant

The St Vincent Brewery Ltd officially commissioned its waste water treatment plant on Monday, May 30.{{more}}

The facility, the first of its kind for any manufacturing plant in the country, has a maximum capacity flow of 450 square metres per day, and according to Albert Porter, Technical Manager/Brew Master, was constructed at a cost of EC$3.2 million.

The waste water treatment plant is expected to replace the previous system which took the untreated water out via a pipeline and dumped it 100 yards out to sea.

Porter added that a diver was usually deployed to ensure that there was no damage being done to the marine life in the area.

The concept was that the current would have been able to take the waste water out from the area.

Franklin Leon, Chairman of the St. Vincent Brewery Ltd. Board of Directors, said that it was anticipated that the setting up of the treatment plant would contribute to the preservation of the natural resources of the country.

He further explained that this decision comes on the heels of the inauguration of a canning system last November.

“We are confident that these important undertakings and other future projects will create substantial value for our company, our employees and the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Leon said.

Saboto Caesar, Minister of Tourism and Industry, said that the issue of environmental preservation was of paramount importance.

He explained that there were four main sectors: tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and construction, and the waste water treatment plant dealt with the issue of sustainability.

Caesar was of the view that persons often confused sustainability with sustained profit, but that sustainability was about preserving the environment.

“This is a step in the right direction, and I am very pleased,” the Minister said, adding that manufacturers needed to take into consideration that their purpose was not just to “cream off profits of manufacturing centres.”