Water-saving taps ‘may be mandatory’

With no end in sight to water woes linked to drought, Government is leaning towards the exclusive use of toilets and faucets that are built with water-conservation technology.

This revelation was made by Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams, who explained that with the country’s water scarcity problem becoming more acute, the days of water conservation being a choice, may soon be a thing of the past

He said: “We are designated as water-scarce; we didn’t give ourselves this designation. We are supposed to provide a thousand cubic metres of water per year to each person but we are only able to provide 300 cubic metres and yet people are still wasting it.

“At some point in time, legislative intervention may have to come to deal with this. We have to stop importing non-water-saving devices into Barbados.

“Every shower head coming into Barbados should be water-saving, every toilet being installed in Barbados should be a water-saving toilet.”

Abrahams further revealed that plans are being considered to help Barbadians switch out their current systems for more water-efficient ones.

He pointed out that water-saving toilets use a gallon of water to flush while the majority of toilets in Barbados use about four gallons of water to flush. He contended that this water could be used to help to service the elevated areas where water is hard to get to.

The Minister said: “We need as Barbadians to look at how we use water. We use a lot of water; we waste a lot of water.

“We know that a water-saving toilet uses one gallon of water to flush. Most of the systems that we have in houses in Barbados used between four and six gallons to flush the toilet.

“We flush a toilet about four to five times per day. So that is 30 gallons of water per day by one person. If you are in a household with four people then that is 120 gallons per day.

“If you were using a water-saving toilet that figure would be down to about 20 gallons/

As the drought continues, the Barbados Water Authority is to carry out mandatory shutoffs in a bid to replenish reservoirs feeding the areas hardest hit by water shortage,  Abrahams announced yesterday.

Residents in parts of St Joseph, St Andrew, St Thomas and St John are currently supplied with potable water from the Castle Grant system which receives its water from four sources: two at Sweet Vale, one at Golden Ridge and another at Apes Hill.

Low rainfall has led to reduced groundwater levels, significantly reducing the quantity of water that is available for pumping, resulting in fewer pumping hours, the BWA revealed.

Approximately two million gallons of water per day (mgd) are required to supply the needs of the rural customers serviced by Castle Grant. The production from the four sources has decreased to 0.75 mgd leaving a deficit of 1.25 mgd, which is more than 50 per cent.

colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb