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Phillip Willoughby - City Councillor
"What we are doing now, is: 1) we have dammed-off the mouth the Caribbean Sea that connects through east collet and west collet canal. We have blocked off where east canal and west canal connects through Z town right here and we have blocked off the Kut Avenue bridge. The purpose of doing so is for us to: 1) pump out the additional water that is left in the canal and that would enable us to create a dry area of the canal so that when we get to the next step to excavate the material from the canal, there is less liquidity in it. We will get, I presume more value for money if we extract just the silt rather than it being more liquefied than silt."

Reporter
"When you foresee the second phase taken place in terms of the actual excavation of the silt itself?"

Phillip Willoughby - City Councillor
"That will come after I believe the DOA and the city council and the hydrology representative is satisfied that we have maximize to the extent that the liquidity has been reduced to its optimum. Then from there we take the next step and we then proceed to seek the way forward in excavating the material that is left."

Jules Vasquez, 7News
"What is a realistic time frame you can give them?"

Phillip Willoughby - City Councillor
"We are hoping that the pumping will not go more than maybe 3 to 4 days to pump out the actual water that is settled or left in the canal. Thereafter we wait and see how long it takes to dry and like I said, once it reaches its optimum peak then we proceed from there to do the excavation of the silt that is left in the canal. I also take this opportunity to advise the general public, don't have your kids playing on the canal. I was briefed on a situation that transpired last evening, kids running down there by Tut Bay and a fellow got stick in the mud. So, we hope that it doesn't happen again and I take advantage of this opportunity to advise them to be extremely careful as this material in the canal is quite soft."

And the councillor also sounded a warning to a property owner who has tired him out with all his tires.

Phillip Willoughby - City Councillor
"I know we had a meeting yesterday with the Ministry of Health dealing with tires and other containers in peoples' yards and so forth that holds water. We will be dealing with that situation at the Chetumal Street and the George Price Highway Roundabout. It's long overdue. Communication has been made to the property owner or the owners via the Ministry of Health and we would be enforcing come during the course of next week if the owner or whoever is responsible does not deal with those tires that are there. All of us wants what's best. I think we have exhausted the opportunity to community and dialogue responsibly and respectfully but when the citizenry refused to act then we need to act and be the vanguards for those who we have protected and who we need to protect. So, it's nothing personal to whoever, the entity or the individual is, but we need them to deal with those tires as quickly as possible."

Willoughby says he'll also be dealign with another person who has dumped a pile of discarded razor blades under the Barrack Road bridge.