AmbergrisCaye.com Home Forums The Cayes Ambergris Caye 30ft. sinkhole appears North of Ambergris Caye

Who does it belong to?

The people that own the property next door to them to the south.

Yes I realise that - that's where the hole is - but who is it?

Does no one know who owns the property and is paying for the hole to be filled in and therefore responsible for the potential damage it is going to cause for other owners in the area?

Someone is paying for it to be filled in and someone wants to also blame them for potential damage?

In reference to the comments made about just filling in the hole with out draining it: This approach could and most likely would result in soil stability issues. There would be no compaction of the fill material, a "slop" hole would be create. This could cause an even greater hazard that just leaving it as an open water hole. Draining the water prior to backfilling is the right approach.

With all due respect I don't agree. The solid material will displace the water. Where did the water come from? It's almost certainly ground water, fresh or brackish, because the hole extends below the water table, so water will drain into the hole while it's being pumped out. And draining it is indeed likely to have a deleterious effect on any surrounding territories with wells.

My bigger concern is where the solid matter that used to fill the hole has gone to. That and the visible partial collapse of land between the hole and the sea.

Filling with rock would displace the water, filling with any small grain sized material (sand, clay, etc) will result in a slop hole if the water is not drained. These materials would hold to much water and just dumping them in a water hole would seriously affect the integrity of these materials. I don't know what the plans are for the fill. I'm 100% with you if they are filling it with rock, if there using rock as fill then no point in draining the water.

I looked at it on 6/24, no sign of pumping, trenches or anything except a nice fence around the hole and an ongoing fence at the road. Sounds like they are moving fast!!!

The subsidence is apparent and actually made me a little uneasy! My wife looked in, looked at the dip heading towards the ocean and said "lets get away from this"

Pumping seems like a lost cause, big rocks bring future problems, small rocks float and "soil" (read sand) will probably go in there forever! Picture the blue hole... on a smaller scale.

Assuming it is part of the water table, whoever is worried about the impact of backfilling to the wells should take a look at the pea soup we are calling water in the new cenote. That stuff looks like more of a contaminate than rocks and sand....

That peasoup is just fresh water with limestone froth. If it was left alone it would probably settle down become much clearer.

I don't imagine pumping would work for long since the water level is at the water table.

Filling it in with contaminants will probably force whatever is in the fill into the underground water supply that feeds more than just that area.

When we dig our wells by hand the water initially looks just like the water in the sinkhole.