MINING and energy minister, Anthony Hylton, last week signed a document formalising the Sedimentary Basin Resource Assessment (SEBRA) Project, which will examine and characterise sand and gravel deposits in the Yallahs River in St Thomas and the Rio Minho in Clarendon.

The project is being funded at a cost of $8.5 million by the Environmental Foundation of Jamaica (EFJ), and will be implemented jointly by the Mines and Geology Division of the Ministry and the Department of Geology and Geography at the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.

Minister Hylton, following the signing, pointed to the need for more training, and effective management and regulation of quarrying activities. “A partnership of this type is exemplary of the way we ought to be proceeding, and I hope to see more of these,” he said.

The minister had special commendation for the EFJ in coming forward with funding for the project. And citing his own involvement in the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) debt arrangement a decade ago that gave rise to the organisation, Hylton expressed great satisfaction at the progress made by the EFJ in the ensuing years.

Meanwhile, project manager at the EFJ, Albert Daley, said support for the project was consistent with its identified priority area of managing Jamaica’s watersheds and other protected areas.

The $8.5-million grant, he said, was one of the largest made by the institution since its inception, adding that this was “indicative of the high level of confidence we have in this project as far as its nature and scope are concerned”.

Daley also welcomed the involvement of the UWI, citing previous collaborations with the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS) on lead abatement in Kintyre, as well as an asbestos mitigation project.

Professor in the Department of Geology and Geography at he UWI, Trevor Jackson, said the university was seeking to encourage research with sponsorship from outside the campus.

The institution, he added, had a proven track record of quality research and was seeking to build even further on this legacy.

Professor Ronald Young, Dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, also welcomed the venture, adding that the scientific community was concerned about the continued low public profile accorded to science and its perceived role in society.

The SEBRA project will see a geologist from the Mines and Geology Division conducting the study, with the data going towards the geologist’s Master of Philosophy in Geology Studies at the UWI. The information will also be used to guide future actions, as well as from the base for a draft national policy on river sedimentation. From the results of the initial study, a handbook of ‘Best Practices’ will be developed for use by current and future quarry operators.

Among the areas to be covered in the study are variations in sand and gravel flows in relation to demand; the identification of alternative sources of sand, such as crushed limestone; land use issues and the negative impact of sand/gravel quarrying on host communities.