THERE HAVE BEEN OCCASIONS, and justifiably so, when Barbadians have complained that the involvement of Cabinet ministers in the day-to-day affairs of departments and organisations under their portfolio has amounted to meddling.
We do not wish to be seen as supporting any such conduct.
On this matter of the absolutely abysmal failure of the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) to fulfil its mandate of delivering a reliable supply of water to so many in the population though, we believe it is time for Minister of Water Resource Management Dr David Estwick to get directly involved – and to appear to be doing so.
For way too long, drought or not, the people of St Joseph have been complaining about dry taps and the inconsistent replenishing of the community water tanks installed to offer temporary relief. But over the weekend residents of St Peter, St Andrew, St James and St Thomas suffered the same fate.
In fact, it started well before the weekend and apparently caught even residents who had made the financial sacrifice of installing their own domestic water tanks by surprise. A number of them awoke on Sunday morning to find they had no running water, clear evidence there had been no water from the BWA’s mains for so long that they had exhausted their tanks without realising what was occurring.
But as if the inability of the authority to get water to flow through its pipes was not bad enough, suffering residents had their plight compounded because the BWA could not find a driver to operate its newest tanker truck. Really? How ridiculous can this situation get? When will the BWA behave as though it appreciates the importance of the commodity it is supposed to supply?
How could the Barbados Water Authority not source a driver? All the while Bajans could not get a bath or cook a decent Sunday meal.
Could it be that we have reached the point where Minister Estwick needs to simply clean house at The Pine? And along with cleaning house, is there a need to revamp the systems in place?
We are sure many of the Barbadians who suffered over the past week do not possess a degree in engineering, but would reasonably conclude that something is fundamentally wrong with a system that places the dispatching and operation of water tankers under the control of the engineering department.
Mr Minister, reasonable people believe that persons trained and experienced in customer relations, and who are in direct and continuous contact with the consumer, would be in a much better place to handle the scheduling, routing and dispatching of water tankers.
No engineer will ever have to operate a hotline and be forced to listen to the strings of colourful metaphors that will escape from the mouth of an angry mother when she can’t prepare a decent meal, wash her children’s school uniforms or engage in simple exercises that preserve good hygiene standards in her home.
Mr Minister, too many things are going wrong at the BWA for this attitude of business as usual to continue. Consumers may not buy entirely the argument that taps are dry because of the drought, but they accept that it is a contributor. However, when you tell them they can’t even get a bucket of water because there is no one to drive a tanker, you are really bordering on provoking anti-social behaviour.
If you have five tankers, and such a significant swath of the country has no running water, you must know that you will need at least five drivers. And when you are facing a crisis such as what existed over the weekend, a manager somewhere has to be empowered to approve whatever overtime or special duty pay would be incurred in responding to the need.
The people in the affected areas have accepted that for the time being, their standard of living has been reversed by at least a quarter of a century, but please don’t compound the indignity.
The people accept that a bucket of water on their heads is their current lot; that flushing a toilet the normal way is now just short of a luxury; that taking a shower from a PET bottle will have to suffice for the time being.
On top of all that, Mr Minister, don’t allow officials at the BWA to add insult to injury with such flimsy excuses that, if nothing else, reflect an absolute shortage of effective management in The Pine.
