Flood mitigation efforts continue

Minister of Transport, Works and Water Resources Ian Gooding-Edghill on Tuesday assured that his ministry is continuing efforts to ensure that floodwaters that result from heavy rainfall, particularly during the current hurricane season, recede quickly and create less of a problem for Barbadians.

He made the pledge as he acknowledged the difference those efforts have already made for some flood-prone areas and admitted that there was more work to be done in other parts of the country.

Contributing to debate in the House of Assembly, on a resolution to grant the sum of $34 893 875 from the Consolidated Fund and to place it at the disposal of the Government to supplement the Estimates 2021- 2022, Gooding-Edghill said his Ministry had undertaken flood mitigation initiatives despite having limited resources.

He said the Drainage Division had cleared water courses and constructed detention and retention ponds, which resulted in significant improvement in areas where flooding is usually a problem.

“We’re not finished. There’s a lot of work to do but we also recognize that we only have so much money to spend. But, at the same time, we’re being very prudent and very judicious with how we allocate resources because we have a history of where we’ve suffered significant flooding,” the Minister said.

He pointed to areas such as Gills Terrace and The Whim in St Peter and Pie Corner, St Lucy, as among those communities that have got relief.

Although saying there were other parts of the island that still face flooding, Gooding-Edghill said he was pleased with the progress that his Ministry has made.

Among the flood mitigation efforts is cleaning the thousands of wells that exist across the island and digging new wells. However, the Minister said he had been advised there was a shortage of well diggers in the island.

“But we’re moving with alacrity to address this issue…. If we continue to clean the wells, identify new areas where we have to sink wells, along with the retention and detention and swales that we have to construct in Barbados, those measures will go a long way in trying to mitigate the flooding that we have as a result of the climatic change that we are experiencing,” he said.

Gooding-Edghill called on Barbadians to play their part and avoid practices that result in wells being blocked.

He made a specific appeal to those who dispose of oils and other substances in wells, to desist from doing so.

“We can go and we can clean, but if we continue to put oils and other liquids that are not meant to be disposed of in public wells, it will cause us a challenge…. They clog and block the drains because then the water can’t recede as quickly as it ought to,” Gooding-Edghill said.
(DP)