THE Barbados Water Authority (BWA) has stepped up its game in bringing relief to the hundreds of residents in the north of the island affected by the prolonged drought of two years ago.
On Friday, the BWA launched the Personal Tank Programme (PTP), a water tank storage system managed by the BWA and available first to the most vulnerable in the parishes affected by drought and then to wider Barbados.
The BWA and City of Bridgetown (COB) Credit Union, signed the agreement for the partnership, which offers residents in St John, St Peter, St Joseph, St Andrew and St Thomas, a 400 gallon tank, pump, fittings and installation on a full tank solution under a 5-year interest free hire purchase agreement from the BWA. It will be connected to regular plumbing and filled by the BWA tankers under the Rapid Response Unit during outages.
Delivering the feature address at the launch, held at the BWA’s Pine,St Michael headquarters, the Authority’s Chairman Dr. Atlee Brathwaite said residents in those areas who genuinely cannot afford the cost of the system will undergo a means test and be offered an interest free loan from the BWA.
But Dr Brathwaite stated that Barbadians who can afford the system, funding will be available through the BWA partnership with COB.
“It must be noted here that the PTP is part of the Rapid Response Unit of the Barbados Water Authority and both are managed by Ms Joy-Ann Haigh, who is our Communications Specialist.
“Staff includes administrative personnel, inspectors and installers who will be trained continuously, particularly in effective customer service interaction with a view to establishing customer loyalty,” he said.
COB’s President Henderson Williams, in delivering remarks, said the Credit Union believes now is a good time to partner with the BWA to fulfil the Tank Programme. Williams said the partnership has the potential to transform the lives of relatives, friends and family, by educating and modifying our behaviour in relation to the use of our water resources.
“The issue of water conservation and responsibility for the use of water continues to be of paramount importance to all Barbadians. Certainly, with the issues in relation to global warming. . .
“The point ladies and gentleman is simple. We must take action and we must take action now. We at the City of Bridgetown understand that it is our corporate social responsibility to continue to address issues that will affect our growing and diverse membership,” Williams said.
The Chairman said the realisation of the project not only recognises the social responsibility of BWA, but represents one step towards the Authority becoming a modern, efficient and financially viable organisation, independent of government subvention.
He said, so far, the BWA has completed the Water Sanitation Systems Upgrade project with the assistance of the Inter-American Development Bank, which saw the replacement of 49 km of mains, a reduction of overall energy cost by the installation of Variable Frequency Drives or VFDs, the monitoring of pumping stations through the SCADA or the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition Systems and the reduction of Non-revenue water via the residential smart meter installation project,
all of which were completed on time and on budget.
“. . . The challenge of water scarcity, water security and water management for this island is a real one. It cannot be business as usual as we protect and preserve this most scarce and precious resource.
“Financial resources will be needed to make Barbados a water secure nation. Investment in national water resource management, capacity institution and infrastructure must be a priority in our national development programme,” he said. (AH)