BWA unveils safeguards to protect communities during $160M overhaul

Before the digging begins on Barbados’ $160 million water infrastructure upgrade, officials are urging residents to focus on the safeguards designed to protect them.

At a public stakeholder engagement session held on Tuesday at Lester Vaughan School, the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) outlined a Strategic Environmental and Social Management Plan (SESMP) to mitigate the risks of construction.

These include 18 specific programmes covering occupational health and safety, road safety and traffic management, air quality, noise and vibrations, and compliance monitoring.

The IDB’s Federico Scodelaro said the (SESMP) aimed to “conduct a comprehensive evaluation, then identify and evaluate the environmental and social impacts and risks associated with the project from construction to operation and eventual closure and finally to establish effective mitigation and implement robust management procedures to minimise the assessed impacts and risks”.

He noted that risks during construction include “occupational accidents, dust and noise pollution and possible disruption to roads and small businesses,” with “temporary diversions expected” in heavily trafficked areas.

However, Scodelaro also highlighted positive impacts such as “employment opportunities during construction, greater reliability of the water supply and improved groundwater conservation”.

To ensure accountability, a grievance redress mechanism has been designed with three levels of escalation: direct reporting to the BWA, escalation to the IDB, and a final review by the bank’s Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism.

“Urgent cases, particularly those involving safety, will be prioritised and resolved within a few days, while less critical matters may take longer,” Scodelaro said.

The infrastructure programme itself is structured into four components:

• $100 million to replace 100 km of deteriorated and high-risk water mains

• $50 million for leak detection, metering, pressure control, network optimisation and energy efficiency

• $6 million to enhance BWA’s technical and operational capacity

• $4 million for staffing, audits, monitoring, communication and SESMP implementation BWA Project Manager Shelley Parris said the project “aims to improve service delivery,reliability and climate resilience,” with a focus on “network monitoring, leak detection and environmental and resource management” to guide site selection.

She added that the programme also includes “institutional strengthening and programme administration which aims to strengthen processes such as this one in the future”.

Asked about challenges, Parris said: “This is actually the second or third significant water infrastructure investment in Barbados over the past 15 years. Those experiences have prepared us to manage a project of this scale. But the reality is that water infrastructure is costly and progress is always tied to funding. This programme addresses 100 kilometres of mains but there are over 400 kilometres remaining in need of replacement so there is still so much more to be done.”

The full (SESMP) document is available online and at BWA headquarters, the Planning and Development Department, and public libraries in Independence Square, Speightstown, Holetown and Tamarind Hall, Horse Hill, St Joseph.

(DT)