NOVEMBER WILL BE a month to remember in Barbados if only because of the heavy rainfall recorded following the extended dry period experienced earlier in the year. It may have been all because of climate change or simply the forces of nature. The rains came – some 457.5 millimetres – and were welcomed.
What was tragic was that millions upon millions of cubic metres of water – including the run-off from roofs – ended up going to waste in the sea.
Barbadians who have been suffering unimaginably because of prolonged water shortages will question why some of the run-off rainwater could not have been dammed. It would be disturbing to hear the authorities a few months from today speak of the necessity for shut-offs because of low levels in the reservoirs.
No one, whether the people who suffered so immensely in many rural districts, businesses that were affected and schools that had to be closed, will want to continue encountering a water system so defective that it disrupts their daily operations.
In all of this, the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) has not been proactive in explaining to the public about the various water management issues. The authority’s management must not mix up corporate communications responses to water outages, or some other image and damage control matter, with the same thing as public education. Neither must it assume its plans are beyond the public’s comprehension.
The BWA, in tandem with other Government agencies, must demand that not only new homes need to incorporate water-saving features, but also seek to convert existing properties.
This is where rainwater collection, dual-flush toilets and treatment of grey water from baths, showers and laundry should be re-used The one consideration is that the facilities for the storage of the rainwater must not only be installed, but used rather than become a potential mosquito-breeding ground.
Increasingly, restrictions and conservation measures are going to be critical in Barbados if better usage of our water system is to be achieved even with an augmented supply. This is why the public needs to know more about storing of rainwater for purposes beyond agriculture.
When the BWA adapts measures such as the water prohibition order instituted earlier this year, which was subsequently extended, there should have been public disclosure as to the success or failure of this initiative. The public is no wiser whether this type of measure should become a permanent fixture aimed at restricting wastage during the dry period or should be adopted throughout the year.
There has been no report either on if the new metering programme will be followed by an application to the Fair Trading Commission to help in any objective to drive consumption down through water pricing, and if state incentives should be granted to upgrade and install water-saving devices.
While the public waits to hear from the BWA, measures must be taken to transition rainwater into a valuable water resource.