WHAT’S THE WORD of a government worth? When any spokesperson for a government makes a pronouncement, particularly when what is said is meant to offer comfort or hope to the suffering or dispossessed, should those hearing hold those who lead to the letter of their words, or give greater credence to the spirit of what is said? Should it matter at all?
As we enter the final week before Christmas, which means much to the majority of Barbadians, we can’t help but recall the turmoil that existed across a significant portion of the country one year ago because of the dismal state of water distribution at the time.
The acute water shortages started more than a month before the holidays in earnest in St Joseph and quickly spread to St Thomas, St Andrew, St John, St Lucy and St Peter, and even the higher elevations of St James. By Christmas the outcry was deafening, with thousands of residents having no water for a shower, and little hope of preparing the traditional holiday meals.
What was worse was that throughout the crisis, the Barbados Water Authority appeared ineffective in putting a solution in place. In mid-January though, Minister of Water Resource Management Dr David Estwick broke his silence, outlining a series of measures to bring relief, while blaming the shortage primarily on a drought.
Two of his promises then we now refer to: The importation of eight new water tankers in “about two months”, and two temporary packaged desalination plants to bring relief while Government engaged the private sector to build two permanent ones.
We know those new water tankers did not arrive until October and did not deliver a drop of water to a single water-starved household until early November. She we be concerned about the spirit or letter of the promise?
But what about the packaged desalination plants?
When the House of Assembly met on March 16, Dr Estwick again spoke of those packaged desal plants, announcing they would arrive “within weeks”. Remember, the minister had announced this as a short-term strategy. His own words were: “I met with the Israelis (Tuesday), I met with other providers last week, and I can tell you that packaged plants will be in the Bridgetown Port within a matter of three to four weeks.”
Exactly one month later, the minister again told the House the packaged plants would be here in about a week. We know it was not until the end of August that the first one was commissioned at The Hope, St Lucy and we know the second is still to come on line at Trents, St James.
This level of delivery in our view runs contrary to the word and spirit of the promises more than a year after this crisis started, and after repeated assurances from the Government of a “short-term solution”. And in case it has been forgotten, there are still residents in the north of the island suffering through intermittent water outages each week.
For weeks now Barbados has been receiving generous quantities of rainfall. The aquifers are being replenished and as a result, farmers don’t need to draw from the supply, so there is less pressure on the network. But it will not be long before the traditional dry season starts. What should householders expect?
We can’t hold the Government responsible for a lack of rainfall, but they should be held accountable for broken promises, poor planning and deficient project implementation. These are all now characteristic of the management of our water distribution system. And however well intentioned Dr Estwick was when he spoke in January, the fact is that his delivery has fallen way short of his promises.
