Decision to install water storage systems paying off, says Minister Duguid

The erection of reservoirs across the island to significantlyimprove water delivery to Barbadian households has been paying dividends.

Giving a brief update on the Barbados Water Authority’s reservoir programme, Senior Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr William Duguid said the majority of the water storage systemsbeing erected across the island at this time were between 70 and 99 per cent completed.

Speaking on a resolution in Parliament on Tuesday for State acquisition of just over one acre of land at Balls Plantation, Christ Church for the BWA to start work on another reservoir, Duguid said that residents, particularly in rural parishes, have been getting better access to the commodity.

“It is paying dividends and I am looking forward to seeing improvements in St Lucy as well. I understand that they have some difficulties, but we are going to be going at this to make sure that the water infrastructure in this country continues to be improved constantly and consistently,” he said.

However, Duguid noted that the Rising Sun Reservoir in Christ Church, which feeds almost that entire parish of approximately 40 000 residents, has to be repaired.

He explained that while it would have to be taken out of service to be worked on, BWA engineers have suggested that a replacement system be erected at Balls.

“I understand it is going to take about five to six months [to repair]. Then when that one is fixed, we end up with two reservoirs, which is great.

“Any engineer would tell you that redundancy is absolutely vital and important when you are designing a system, especially a system that is going to serve 40 000 people.

“So this is what this resolution is about, so that we can be able to have the land to build a reservoir that is going to have 1.5 million gallons of water in it so that if any issues happen for the people of Christ Church they have that redundancy,”he said.

He reminded the Lower Chamber that with reservoirs and piping infrastructure across the island deteriorating due to age and resulting in unaccounted water losses, the Government embarked on a programme to fix the issue.

Duguid said that the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) provided Government with a $39.5 million loan to mitigate challenges being experienced by the BWA and to address the issues related to the failing and ageing infrastructure and the inefficiency that the authority was experiencing.

He said: “The first thing that that was to do obviously was to start to change out the piping. Some have been changed out already. And the other part of it was to be able to change out the above-ground and below-ground infrastructure, which is to be able to get tanks done and improve the reservoirs.

“They have been working to improve the infrastructure for water storage as well as water transmission in this country. And that is an absolute plus and that is a benefit for all the people of Barbados because water is a human right.

“We saw in the pandemic it was so important to be able to just wash your hands because imagine if we didn’t have access to water and you couldn’t wash your hands it could have been a matter of life and death,” he said.

anestahenry@barbadostoday.bb