Boys ride through Sharpe Road, Caparo, which became flooded when the Caparo River burst its banks

The Caparo River Basin Flood Mitigation and Water Resources Management Project was initiated by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago some years ago. The investigators conducted an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) to scientifically examine the annual problem related to flooding in the Caparo Basin. The project was completed by an international consortium of Consultants in June 1999 and recommended:

To accomplish these recommendations mitigation measures were developed to address issues relating to vegetative cover replacement, public education on pesticide use, lowering of the negative the effects from sedimentation, dust and noise, arising from construction. The flood control system incorporated channeling of watercourses, construction of a retention pond at Mamoral, reinstating the Honda River bypass with an establishment of trash racks to collect garbage from watercourses and allocation of land for water retention. The cost of implementing the project’s several management plans are environmental issues (US$270,000), operations and maintenance (US$400,000), land acquisition (US$4,040,000) and finally a watershed management plan (US$65,000). The project was projected to last four (4) years.