Ensuring the Sustainability of Wastewater Operations in West End, Roatán.
Summary
The community of West End, Roatán, is located in the Mesoamerican Reef and is one of the hubs for the tourism industry that is essential to the Honduran economy. Over a million tourists visit the island of Roatán in the Bay Islands each year, drawn to its colorful reefs, white-sand beaches, and clear waters.
To ensure the protection of the Roatan reefscape, The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) has been leading efforts to improve marine water quality in Honduras since 2012, the same year when the community of West End had its activated sludge wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) built. The plant is currently managed and operated by Polo’s Water Board with support from CORAL and the Mesoamerican Reef Fund (MARFUND). Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic created a significant loss of operating revenue for the plant due to Roatán's tourism-dependent economy.
Classifications
Region
Scale of implementation
Ecosystem
Theme
Other theme
Urban and Disaster Risk Management
Challenges
Sustainable development goals
Aichi targets
Business engagement approach
Challenges
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Inefficient wastewater management leading to poor water quality and its impact on the integrity and health of both humans and corals; as well as the local tourism industry.
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Roatán’s economy is highly dependent on tourism. Additionally, many of the residences in the West End community are vacation homes. Unfortunately, as COVID-19 began to ramp up, many people with vacation homes returned to their home countries. The hotels emptied out and, although borders are now open, tourism is recovering very slowly and will most likely not recover fully until the last quarter of 2021.
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Because the wastewater plant depends entirely on user fees to operate, Polo’s Water Association is now facing a 70% reduction in its operative income.
Beneficiaries
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Local community.
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Tourism stakeholders.
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Co-managers of the Bay Islands National Marine Park.
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Marine and coastal communities and Small Island Developing States that might replicate this project.
Building blocks
How do the building blocks interact?
Multi-stakeholder and Community Engagement promotes governance and allows the project to reach its infrastructure goals and financial goals through payment of service fees and additional funding through grants, providing input for Budget Modeling for Sustainable Financing which assesses the project's finances, identifying projected cash flow, needs, and funding opportunities; while promoting resilience through designing budget scenarios. Marine Water Quality Monitoring generates data to evaluate its performance and to design its potential growth.
These first building blocks provide the elements that go into planning for the Future. The improvements are established with a holistic approach that unifies scientific, technical, and financial factors; as well as honoring its community-based management model.
This management model has the potential to be adapted and replicated in communities of the Bay Islands of Honduras and also in marine-coastal areas within the Mesoamerican Reef and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) based on their shared geographical characteristics and challenges.
Interaction Gallery
Impacts
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The alliance between Polo’s Water Board CORAL transformed wastewater management in the community of West End. Setting a standard for effective wastewater treatment based on community management; bringing the cumulative amount of raw sewage treated to an incredible 29.3 million gallons per year.
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In 2020 Polo’s waterboard was able to cover electrical costs, reparation of the aeration system, additional roofing, 62 solar panels to reduce monthly costs and daytime energy consumption by 80%, and a new station to increase coverage of sewage treatment services.
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There has been a significant improvement in the marine water quality since the WWTP's construction. A clear example is the certification of Half Moon Bay beach under the Ecological Blue Flag Program.
Story
West End Roatán and its Half Moon Bay beach offer its local population and visitors beautiful, clean, blue, and safe marine water that can also protect the reef's health while supporting its journey towards becoming a sustainable tourism destination.
The partnership between The Coral Reef Alliance and Polo’s Water Board has resulted in the effective management of wastewater treatment in West End, preventing marine pollution by treating 29.3 million gallons of raw sewage per year.
Pictures
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