Liberia rubber pollution denied

Rubber is an important source of revenue for Liberia

A US rubber firm has told the BBC it denies allegations that it is polluting a river by its plant in Liberia.

Residents near the plantation, 50km south-east of the capital, say they can no longer use the Farmington River because of waste dumped by Firestone.

"Our documentation does not support those allegations," Firestone's spokesperson Christina Gaines said.

Liberia is recovering from a 14-year civil war. Rubber is its biggest export and Firestone the main producer.

It employs some 6,000 people and has been operating in the West Africa country for some 80 years.

Wells

Ms Gaines said that Firestone had not violated any laws and that the firm consistently sampled water from the Farmington River.

People have had to flee from the offensive odours Henry Buwe Concerned Citizens Movement

"The Firestone effluent - the by-product that comes out into the water from our operations - is comparable to if not lower than the effluent standards in other rubber-producing countries such as India Malaysia and Indonesia," she told the BBC's Network Africa programme.

However, a local advocacy group said the river could no longer be used by residents of Owensgrove.

"If the chemical was not in it we would use the water to wash; use the water to drink; use the water to irrigate our crops," Henry Buwee, head of the Concerned Citizens Movement, told the BBC.

"The area is now depopulated because people have had to flee from the offensive odours and the chemical effects to reside elsewhere," he said.

Meanwhile, an environmentalist who was in Liberia last year contacted the BBC News website to say that preliminary tests she took from the Farmington River in March 2006 indicated that they would not pass US regulations.

"Although it wasn't done in an official process, the initial results showed the ammonia levels in the water were well above the EPA standards in the US," said Michelle Medeiros, managing director of a forest advocacy group in the US.

"I heard the testimonials from locals on the decrease in fish stock, the increase in skin problems, and other health problems," she said.

Ms Gaines said Firestone has installed a number of safe drinking wells areas around the plantation.