Corresponding with the heat wave that arrived over the last few days, the smell wafting from the Road Town ghuts — also known as open sewers — has reached a new level of stench. As you approach the ghuts, the smell becomes literally unbearable, and, in fact, almost nauseating if you should get too close. And this is after the ghuts were cleaned in recent days.
I often wonder what else might be lurking down there in the ghuts: perhaps a dose of cholera or hepatitis, or a strain of some new contagious disease? An outbreak could essentially shut down the tourist industry here for at least a few years.
As some of our valued visitors visit town — shopping, dining al fresco or simply enjoying a frosty beverage in the open air — a gust of breeze brings forth some of this fragrant air. What are their thoughts about this awful stink, and how do such noxious odours impact their perception of the Virgin Islands?
Some people who live and work in Road Town apparently have become immune to the stink, or simply try to ignore it (which, I may add, is virtually impossible).
With another election rapidly approaching, surely this topic will once again be brought up as an issue, with various solutions put forth. This matter, in my humble opinion, should be an issue that has an immediate sense of urgency to it, and hopefully it will be dealt with on that basis. The sooner, the better.
Now, where did I put my gas mask?