Barbados Today

Member of Parliament for St Joseph Dale Marshall says his constituents are not getting good service from either the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) or the Ministry of Agriculture.

Describing the water situation in the rural constituency as “a daily struggle”, Marshall said his constituents were “almost at their tipping point”.

“I can honestly say my constituents haven’t had any significant relief. There’s been little improvement occasionally, but by and large the situation has not changed from what it was. My constituents continue to have to struggle and that’s together with all the other issues. They struggle on a day-to-day basis without a steady water supply,” he said.

The St Joseph representative said he believed his constituents were on the verge of giving up in frustration, adding that “many of them were in a state of mind where they felt that the Government simply doesn’t care and isn’t paying any attention to our need.

“One thing I am sure of is that Government has absolutely nothing to say to my constituents and other affected persons about how soon we can expect to get relief,” he added.

Marshall said the water woes were a fundamental problem that only added to the other issues that rural Barbados faced.

“Our roads are falling apart, we have a tremendous burden in relation to slippage. Because people believe that the rural areas are behind God’s back, a lot of dumping is taking place in our communities and our gullies. You have a situation where access to our country areas is severely hampered; our health is at risk because of the dumping and added to all of that, we have unpredictable running water, and so we are almost at the tipping point. What else can happen?” Marshall questioned.

He was speaking to Barbados TODAY following a ceremony at the St Bernard’s Primary School for the visiting Governor General Sir Elliott Belgrave.

When a Barbados TODAY team ventured out into the parish today, the cry of the residents was the same. They all are wondering when they will get some ease from their suffering.

Eighty-year-old Isabelle Hinkson of Airy Hill said she was simply fed up.

“I don’t have any water and I can’t cook. I had to make bakes twice already for the week. I can’t make bakes so all the time. I have to go all down the gap to get water to cook. I can’t go down there all the time. I’m old now. They used to come and give you some by the tank and they stop since they put the tank down the road. All my life I have been living here and I never had problems so,” she complained.

Luellen Nicholls, also of Airy Hill, echoed Hinkson’s sentiments saying, “The water situation is real bad.

“It’s like we have water for a day or so and then you don’t see any water for a long time. It’s really ridiculous.

“You have little children going to school, what are they going to shower in? Some households have three or four children and it’s a waste of time wondering about water so all the time.

“There is a tank there, but there’s so much people in this area that you can’t depend on a tank.

“Some days the tank don’t even have water. They’re old people in this area that need a little help. My mother is 84-years-old if she didn’t have sons at the house I don’t know how she would get water,” he said