Another year, another developing water crisis.
It’s now virtually predictable that scores of households and farmers will suffer from dry taps, as the not-so-rainy season begins this weekend.
There’s been sweltering heat and little rain.
Today’s overcast skies and intermittent showers were deceptively promising but won’t go anywhere to washing away this current drought.
The Barbados Water Authority has warned the parishes of St Michael, St James, St Joseph, St John, St George, St Andrew, and St Thomas to store water and brace for low pressure and possible outages.
That’s because reservoirs at Golden Ridge, Lodge Hill and Fort George are very low, while reservoirs at Castle Grant and Shop Hill are exhausted.
Since May 3, the BWA introduced nightly shutoffs for customers in parts of St George, St Thomas and St John to allow the Golden Ridge reservoir to recover overnight and for longer hours of pumping to Castle Grant during the daytime.
But the situation has not improved, amid households’ mounting frustration. The lack of water severely affects our quality of life and our farmers’ food production. And who wants to pay a monthly water bill when the tap is dry?
From all indications, though, water won’t be flowing in abundance anytime soon.
The forecast issued today by the Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology and reported on elsewhere in today’s edition provides no comfort.
In its latest Caribbean Climate Outlooks publication, the CIMH cautioned that despite the approaching start of the wet season on June 1, the region will continue to feel the effect of the present drought through June and August.
“Drought [conditions] are expected to continue into the wet season in areas currently affected, as weak El Niño conditions and less than the usual rainfall is forecast to persist throughout the season,” it said.
But forget the lack of rainfall for a moment. We have already been warned that climate change will result in such weather extremes.
But even before we grappled with the impact of climate change, our finite groundwater resources have fast been running out.
Barbados has for decades been deemed one of the world’s most water-scarce countries in the world by the World Resources Institute.
Just this week, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams told the nation that 60 per cent of the water pumped by the BWA is “unaccounted for.”
Add to this, the troubling state of our existing water infrastructure.
Said Abrahams: “We are having water issues in Barbados. It is not simply a matter of pumping. We are dealing with ageing infrastructure. The bulk of our mains are in excess of 150 years old and… they break and burst all the time.”
Then came the whopper — it will cost $2.5 billion to relay the 2,500 kilometres of water mains.
So Barbados has to find a way to adapt to a water-scarce existence and we may need outside expertise and funding to do it, because we simply don’t have the resources.
Sure, the BWA has said it would tackle the problem by addressing leaks, illegal connections, the introduction of more efficient meters, and a programme for households to buy water tanks.
All these initiatives are on the right track but we have to go further, for water is life.
Therefore, our perennial water woes must become a national security, development, health, social and economic priority.
We need a long-term strategic plan that speaks to effective and efficient harvesting of water; the best conservation methods, alternative sources including desalination and atmospheric water generation, and more.
In the meantime, households need not wait for the pending water restrictions. We must stop the abuse.
In sum, we are running out of water, so we need to conserve every drop by using it more efficiently, recycling and capturing more rainwater when it comes.
We believe we are on the cusp of the biggest economic and infrastructural ‘moon shot’ of this century. Our survival depends on reaching the proverbial moon.
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When in opposition the Barbados Labour Party blamed the DLP Govt. for all water shortages.
They told the people of affected communities to march against the DLP Govt. until they got water.
Who are they going to blame now???
MORE ACTION, LESS TALK.
Is what parliamentary representative for St Joseph Dale Marshall believes the people in the rural parish need now more than ever in the face of continuous water worries.
Speaking after his Barbados Labour Party Branch meeting tonight in Burke’s Village, Marshall said he has noticed only one or two areas were “marginally” better off, but Horse Hill residents were still experiencing dry taps.
“It appears to me that while the minister has contradicted the management of the authority and has given us certain assurances, at this point in time those assurances have not yielded any fruit,” he said.
Expressing his disappointment and concern about the entire matter the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said there had been no resolution of the problem.
He added it was illogical to suggest to poor residents to buy water tanks when they can barely afford to pay their water bills.
“I have constituents that are buckling under the economic strain. I have constituents who cannot pay their water bills. Now in which world would an individual who can’t even pay a water bill, find cash to go and buy a water tank? [There is] installation and electrical work associated with it?” (MR)
Mere hours before the start of the new school year tomorrow, the Barbados Labour Party’s shadow Minister of Water Resources Trevor Prescod has blasted Agriculture Minister Dr David Estwick for the water woes still plaguing rural parishes.
Demanding “an immediate plan of relief”, Prescod in a strongly worded statement charged that, “the lack of running water is not only a major inconvenience but a threat to people’s health.”
Prescod knocked the Government for allowing the problem to escalate while ignoring solutions offered by Opposition Leader Mia Mottley.
He cited a recommendation for the five water tankers operated by the Barbados Water Authority to be supplemented and operated on a 24-hour basis.
Mottley had also suggested that a daily schedule of the routes be published to allow people to plan their business accordingly.
Prescod, the MP for St Michael East, said the situation was a “damning indictment on the competence of any Government”, even as he insisted that the BLP’s position “ was not about partisanship. It is about people suffering
“Simply put, better can be done and better must be done! The Barbados Labour Party calls upon Freundel Stuart and his ministers to treat the residents of St Joseph and the rest of Barbados without water with the respect they deserve and meet their immediate needs while they focus on the long term solutions that they have been talking about.
“The Government must urgently resolve this situation, particularly in light of the commencement of the new school term tomorrow, “”Prescod said.
Just this week, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams told the nation that 60 per cent of the water pumped by the BWA is “unaccounted for.”
Said Abrahams: “We are having water issues in Barbados. It is not simply a matter of pumping. We are dealing with ageing infrastructure. The bulk of our mains are in excess of 150 years old and… they break and burst all the time.”
Since May 3, the BWA introduced nightly shutoffs for customers in parts of St George, St Thomas and St John to allow the Golden Ridge reservoir to recover overnight and for longer hours of pumping to Castle Grant during the daytime.
The Utility Regulation Division of the Fair Trading Commission regulates three utility companies – Flow (Barbados) Ltd. The Barbados Light & Power Company Ltd. and the Barbados Water Authority. The division oversees rates and service standards and investigates queries and complaints. Presently of these three Utility companies the two privately owned must adhere to strict service standards and present documented supporting evidence when approaching the FTC with an application for increase in rate for the service provided.
One criterion which must be satisfied before the application is considered is that the company presents evidence showing that it meets the service standards and investigated quarries and complaints were done in a timely manner and that all issues involving reimbursement of funds are settled in a timely manner as set out by the FTA.
Over the years both the BL&P and Flow have met these requirements, however the ridiculous service provided by the BWA for decades is well known.
Granting an increase in water rates to the BWA by the FTA will be setting a bad precedent as it would be unreasonable to demand the continual great service provided by the other two utility companies as a prerequisite for increase in their rates.
The FTA should insist that the BWA improve their service before and increase in rates can be granted. These utility companies should not be granted increases in rates on the promise that they will improve the service, the service must be satisfactory and then the rate increase granted.
WOW: WHAT A THING.
WAIT: THE DLP STILL IN POWER!!!!?.
The BLP (after successfully fooling the Barbadian people) in now finding out that managing is certainly not about being in “opposition”.
Silent Stuart blasted by Mottley
“”Opposition Leader Mia Mottley has lambasted Prime Minister Freundel Stuart for his silence as residents in the north and east of the island continue to experience serious water shortages.
In a press release issued by the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) leader today, Mottley said it was unacceptable for Stuart to remain mum while Barbadians in St Lucy, St Joseph, St Thomas, St Peter and St Andrew have been forced to live in dire circumstances.
“It is now offensive that our Prime Minister has yet to speak to his people at a time of great crisis for them. Simply to tell Barbadians to be contented when thousands of them cannot plan out their lives because they cannot get something as basic and as vital to their survival as water is not good enough,” she argued.
“How does a Prime Minister muster the will to talk to us about climate change in Paris but does not speak to the people of St Joseph and St Thomas about their water woes. The PM spends the time to speak about the need for Barbadians to celebrate how far we have come in the last 50 years but does not address those Barbadians in St. Lucy, St. Peter and St. Andrew who find nothing to celebrate and reflect on whether they have been taken back 50 years with no running water coming to their houses on a regular and predictable basis. How must families cope?” the statement contended.””
BARBADOS TODAY
A Bajan Magazine article from 1979 indicated that Barbados was even then struggling to meet the water needs of the country during the dry season.
Barbados must indeed adopt a new paradigm for water sourcing, conservation and use and must rally its resources towards tackling the problem.
This is not a political issue, this is about survival!!!
The following is from a conference on Rain Harvesting held in Grenada in 2010! Our problem is not new, we just do not have the political will to engage this problem head on. There is plenty of blame to go around, so we need less talk and promises and more ACTION NOW.
“A number of conservation initiatives are required to maximize the use of available water in the years ahead. These are summarized here for consideration:
1. Reduction of the “Unaccounted for Water” from the current level of 55% to 35%; this would realize a saving of 30,300 m3/d (8.0M US gpd).
2. Update operations – flow control systems at pump stations.
3. Establish National Pressure Zones – with use of an island wide hydraulic model.
4. Reduction of water toilet cistern leakage due to faulty flapper valves; this is estimated to result in a saving of 18,900m3/d (5.0M US gpd); this requires a regulatory framework that restricts the use of unauthorized toilet cisterns.
5. Implement a water tariff structure that rewards conservation.
6. Promote and reward “rain water harvesting” – encourage rain water use in toilet flushing, landscape irrigation, swimming pools, clothes washing etc.”
Marshall calls for rebate
REBATES or abatements in water bills for an agreed period should be offered to the residents of St Joseph.
So said Member of Parliament for the constituency, Dale Marshall, yesterday as he spoke of water outages that have affected residents for much of the year.
Marshall said the time had come for the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) to show regret and penitance to his constituents.
“The BWA needs to understand that they have a responsibility not just to provide water going forward but to seek in some way to console and to make up for it,” the former attorney general said.
st-joseph-residents-deliver-letter-to-bwa-boss
“”It’s a national crisis that requires a national solution.
That’s how Opposition Leader Mia Mottley today summed up the current water outages plaguing northern and eastern sections of the island shortly.
(Barbados Labour Party candidate for St Peter, Colin Jordan, has a hearty laugh with Opposition Leader Mia Mottley and concerned residents from St Peter and St Joseph at the BWA headquarters, the Pine.)
Her comments came after witnessing two residents of St Joseph hand over a letter registering concern about the situation to acting General Manager of the Barbados Water Authority, Dr John Mwansa, at the BWA’s Pine, St Michael headquarters.
“”The Opposition Leader told reporters that her letter warned the management of the BWA that their actions not only adversely affected the hygiene and health of ordinary citizens, but also the livelihoods of small farmers and businesses across northern and eastern sections of Barbados.
She also contended that one had to live through the experience of not having access to water to understand the anguish and anxiety.
“The people who are not experiencing the outages, the people who are not in the north and east who are not experiencing these chronic water outages, simply have no clue how the lives of tens of thousands of Barbadians are being affected.
“It concerns me that the absence of that appreciation allows for business as usual both in terms of the execution of a response and the planning out of additional programmes,” she complained.
Mottley argued that if an observer appreciated the anguish the affected residents experience on a daily basis, they would want to see a 24 hour work day at the BWA in terms of the distribution of water and the repairing of mains.
“If you appreciated the anguish of a mother who has challenges now in being able to cook food for her family or to wash clothes and get the school clothes ready for the children to go to school, you would understand why even though the community tanks play a critical role, they are insufficient to meet the needs of the community,” the Opposition Leader explained.
Voicing her concern over the situation, Lindsay Payne of Newton Crescent, Bissex, St Joseph told reporters: “I came here this morning because this issue is very important to me. By 5 o’clock this morning, I was in St Andrew looking for water so that I could be here. As I speak I have only two buckets of drinking water at home. This problem has been going on for the past 30 years. Some of the children of my district could not attend school this morning.”
BARBADOS TODAY
waiting for lizzie and hapless harry to comment on this one….