St Joseph folk welcome water project but demand relief

St Joseph residents have welcomed a more than $100m water infrastructure project aimed at replacing ageing mains and resolving long-standing supply issues across the island, but they say urgent relief is needed after weeks without a reliable supply.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Mia Mottley signed a $160m (US$80m) agreement with the Inter-American Development Bank for the modernisation of the water infrastructure, while attending the IMF and World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington.

While supportive of the initiative, residents questioned how long it will take to bring relief.

“She’s doing her best, and I appreciate what she’s doing to alleviate the problem, but right now we need water. So, as the project starts now, how long are we going to be out of water?” asked Bernard Brown of Lower Parks.

Ingrid Knight of Dark Hole was cautiously optimistic. “The proof will be in the pudding, because if we can get uninterrupted flow, we would see that it actually is working.”

Brown and Knight are among several people in Lower Parks, Parks Road and Dark Hole who have been without consistent water for weeks.

Brown, who lives with his wife in Lower Parks, said it has been eight weeks since they have had proper running water.

“It’s really ridiculous out here. Sometimes you don’t even see the water trucks in the day; they come in the night when people are sleeping. . .”

He noted that while there are water tanks in the area, Lower Parks is located downhill. “The tank is at the top of the hill.”

Brown also questioned why residents without a supply are still required to pay for water.

“Yes, we know things are going to happen, but if they would turn on the water at least two or three times a week, you could live — you could wash your clothes. People can’t wash their clothes, can’t do anything; toilets to flush, all sorts of things. People have young children and all sorts of things; school is next week,” he said.

He acknowledged hearing announcements from the Barbados Water Authority about burst mains, but argued that more support is needed for affected residents. “If people have to pay for laundry, they are not paying the laundry bill, but they will expect you to pay the water bill. It’s not fair.”

Knight said water has been returning in the early hours of the morning, only to shut off again within hours.

“What happened is it came on this morning, and when I got up about three o’clock, I noticed it was on, but it was not strong. I was able to catch a few bottles, but then when I went back to sleep and got back up around seven, it was gone again.”

For her household, the situation has been especially challenging.

“I have four children at home and a grandson living with me. It is rough, especially now that the children are home on vacation, because they don’t always dispatch a water tanker. We’ve called several times, especially last week — my daughter would have called several times — and I think the tanker only came once.”

She described how her family copes when pipes run dry.

“I have a vehicle, so what I do is go to a district right above us called Coconut Grove. There is a standpipe there that always runs, so we have to pack buckets and bottles in the vehicle and go up there. Sometimes we will bathe up there, wash up and so on, and come back.”

Residents of Parks Road reported being without water for up to three weeks, with trucks visiting sporadically, often late at night.

Barbados TODAY spoke with beekeeper and landscaper Kimberley Yearwood, who was waiting with buckets and drums for the truck to return.

“Last night, Water Authority came minutes to 11 o’clock. He said that he is the night driver, and when he came to me, I only had four buckets. He said the water was finished, so my other neighbours didn’t get any water.”

Residents are often left waiting without notice, she said.

“A friend from Fruitful Hill was also waiting all day for the truck, but it never came. When the truck comes, there is no alert sound to residents; they must always be on the lookout for it.”

Yearwood also raised concerns about water stored nearby.

She said that a tank close to their house is regularly filled by trucks, but residents are unsure how often it is cleaned.

Frustrated by the situation, she added: “People call the Water Authority to complain, and the thing about it is they work on this stretch — this is upper Parks Road called Saddle Back — but Lower Parks people aren’t getting any water, nor are people in Fruitful Hill.”

Another resident, Blenman, criticised the lack of backup systems and communication.

“There’s no way you have one pump broken down and do not have a backup. They should have a backup system.”

“I guess we are probably not on the map,” he added, expressing concern about the lack of updates. “Nobody is telling us anything.”

He said residents should not be paying bills under the current conditions. “I believe no one should be paying water bills when it comes; they should ignore it.”

Area MP Ryan Brathwaite told Barbados TODAY he has made several appeals to the Barbados Water Authority to dispatch water trucks to affected communities, noting he too has been impacted by the outages as a resident of St Joseph. 

BWA earlier revealed that for the first three months of the year there have been approximately 40 incidents of burst mains, leaking and hydrants detected and repaired in St. Joseph. 

In a late-evening update issued on Friday, the water authority stated that they are actively working to resolve the disruption and restore normal service as quickly as possible.

“The Authority wishes to advise that field teams continue to actively conduct service checks in the impacted areas, to identify the root causes of the decreased levels and supply interruptions. To date, a number of leaks have been detected and repaired,” the statement read.