Some St Lucy residents are finally seeing something they have waited years for – clearer water from their taps.
But while the brown has faded in many areas, residents say it has not disappeared, with some still waking to water carrying a slight tinge and others reporting days when it remains dark brown.
Almost all interviewed said they were still buying bottles of drinking water.
Government and Barbados Water Authority (BWA) officials said they had stepped up efforts to tackle the long-standing problem, with Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, BWA chief executive officer Peter Thompson and other officials recently touring the Alleynedale Pumping Station to examine progress.
Water quality specialist Alex Ifill, who was among the officials outlining the progress made in addressing the discoloured water, used two bottles of water to demonstrate the changes.
One contained normally clear water, while the other had a slight brownish tinge, a significant improvement from the much darker water
that previously flowed from taps in the northern parish.
“It’s safe to drink but, as I said, if you are not comfortable with the colour water then . . . [but] that is the colour. That is the limit that is reached, which is the aesthetic value, not of a biological nor chemical value,” Ifill said.
“Colour is not a health-related standard in water but a standard to make people comfortable. You have to be comfortable with what you use it for. Presently, there is much clearer water in almost every home.
“You would have seen the pictures before . . . the water was extremely brown . . . but compared to this, this will tell you that there has been significant changes but we are not there yet,” Ifill added.
In Broomefield, Pascal Maynard was among those prepared to give the BWA credit for the progress.
“It still has a little brown to it but definitely you can see that it’s clearer. I drink it,” he said.
Maynard said the work on the pipe system had made a difference, although he believed there was still more to be done.
“I would say that they did something good where changing the pipe system is concerned, but it just needs a little bit more adjusting,” he said.
That improvement, however, has not been enough to convince everyone to put the water to their lips.
In Bourbon, Leroy Harvey said the water was noticeably clearer than it had been during the worst period of discolouration, but he still preferred not to drink it.
“It gets a little bit clearer,” he said.
“But this water, for the past three months was so brown that you couldn’t drink it. You couldn’t wash clothes. Yes, right now, you get a little bit clearer water, but you still cannot drink.”
Harvey said he continued to buy bottled water and, when necessary, travelled to other areas to collect clearer water, as far as Six Men’s in St Peter.
For families, the issue was not simply about whether the water could be consumed.
Residents said the discolouration had made ordinary chores such as washing clothes difficult, particularly the white school shirts.
At one community tank in Bourbon, a woman was seen filling a basin and hand-washing her children’s clothes, as residents explained that the tap water sometimes left white clothing stained brown.
Some families have adapted by using tap water for toilets and certain household chores while reserving water from community tanks, trucks or bottles for drinking and cooking.
In Greenidges, Bentley Holder said the colour still varied considerably.
Some days, he said, the water was so brown it looked like “lard oil”.
Connell Town resident Horace Boyce remained among the most sceptical. He said the water could appear relatively clear at times before becoming heavily discoloured again, particularly in the early morning.
“You can’t drink that. It’s not water that is fit for human consumption and it has a terrible smell,” he said.
He said residents had endured the problem for far too long and questioned why improvements appeared to last only for short periods.
“When you get up in the morning, go to the bathroom and brush your teeth and look at the water . . . it is brown. Take a bottle and put water and sit it there and see the condition of it. You can’t drink that.”
Merica Marcelin also remained unimpressed.
“They are saying that it has improved but to me nothing has improved really,” she said. (JRN/NS)