Heavy rainfall over the last two weeks, including a nine-inch deluge last weekend, won’t be enough to end the island’s water shortage, Minister of Water Resources Wilfred Abrahams has told Barbados TODAY.
And the Minister warned the current water rations will continue for the time being.
He said: “The water challenges are an ongoing issue for us, we have not had the rainfall that we expected.
“This is the last month of the rainy season and in the rainy season that we are accustomed to, we get heavy rains every three days.
“Instead we had some intense sharp rains that caused flooding but then it is followed by long spells of dryness, so the necessary water is not getting into the aquifer.”
Abrahams, who stressed that rainwater capture has to be part of the national discourse, revealed that the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) will soon be embarking on a major programme to repair burst mains in an effort to conserve water.
Abrahams said: “Nationally there is going to have to be an entire discussion as to what can be done in terms of rain water capture. We need to look to check dams and clearing of wells to capture the water that is running off.
“We are looking at the entire water capture structure in Barbados because it is still a work-in-progress.
“We are also going to repair the burst pipes in a very short space of time,” adding he will address the issue at a news conference next week.”
He continued: “This is something that we take very seriously, we are not reactive to issues, the engineers at the BWA meets every single day to address the water situation and get a handle on what we want to do.
“Having said that, even with the best will in the world, even if all of the breaks in the pipes were fixed and we caught all of the runoff water currently, we still need more rain and we are suffering from a lack of it currently.”
Abrahams praised Barbadians for sticking to the prohibitions in effect on some water usage, suggesting this has helped the Government’s efforts to conserve water.
He told Barbados TODAY: “For the most part Barbadians have been following the prohibitions, so I can’t say that persons are being reckless.
“Barbadians are taking this very seriously.
“I think almost everybody understands that there is a problem, the problem is not of the Barbados Water Authority’s making, but rather because we are in a prolonged drought for a series of years and that this is having a great effect on our groundwater and impacting our water resources.”
The Minister largely attributed this understanding from the public to greater efforts at communications from the BWA.
He added: “We don’t hide the realities of what we are facing, the Barbados Water Authority has been more communicative than it has ever been, we speak to the public, we speak to the media and we explain the challenges that we are having and what we are doing to solve them.
“So I think that has helped a lot.”
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