Gov’t approaches IDB to boost access to water tanks

Government is seeking assistance from the private sector arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group to increase the water storage capacity of Barbadian households.
Prime Minister Mia Mottley announced to the national stakeholder consultation on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals on Monday evening that she had approached the multilateral investment institution for funding assistance for water storage tanks.
“This morning, we met with IDB Invest and we discussed with them a commitment and said to them ‘either you can or you can’t because this train is moving’, and that is, that the [Barbados] Water Authority needs to have a revolving fund to allow Barbadians to purchase water tanks,” she told those in attendance at the consultation at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre.
Mottley also encouraged Barbadians to purchase their own water storage and water-saving devices.
“Those who can afford to do so on your own, you will be negligent and you will be doing yourself a disservice by not having the appropriate water-saving devices in your bathrooms and in your kitchens, and not ensuring that you buy the water tanks that are necessary to get you through, and changing the behaviour of the families in order to do so. These things are part and parcel of what the maintenance and pursuit of the SDGs [Sustainable Development Goals] should look like,” she said.
The Prime Minister made the comments moments after highlighting the significant reduction in the rainfall average over the last five months compared to the same period in previous years.
(JB)