Minister of the Environment, Dr. Denis Lowe??

Government is working assiduously to make the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) the region’s leading water management institution.

Word of this has come from Minister of the Environment, Dr. Denis Lowe. Speaking following a recent tour of the Authority’s pumping stations and sites, Minister Lowe advised:?? "Barbadians can expect that there will be a continued aggressive approach to bringing the BWA to a level where it exceeds any water system or water management system in the region."

Providing the rationale for the tour, he said it was conducted in light of the Authority’s modernisation thrust and in an attempt to allow high-level Ministry staff and Board members to gain greater insight into what is happening in the field, as well as about the process of supplying the island with water.

"We would have to agree that we are shifting from …the traditional approach of looking at water resource management to a more modern approach that is more diverse. I believe that the Minister needs to be aware of all of the dynamics involved, so that the Cabinet can be appropriately advised, and that the country can be informed as to where we are going from here.

??"Certainly it (the tour) gives me a lot of encouragement in terms of how we will achieve the kind of modernisation that we need, not only in terms of operations, but also in terms of people management and … the refurbishment and restructuring of the physical infrastructure of the BWA," the Minister added.

With regard to the way forward, Minister Lowe observed that the country was operating under very stringent economic times, and as such, Government did not have "the luxury of spending as it would wish to spend on the BWA.

I believe that what the country needs more than anything else is the assurance that the experts at the Authority understand what is going on with water resources management. I believe that the country wants to know that [citizens] will never be in danger of not having enough water; and I also believe that the country needs to know that the Government, the Ministry and the BWA are working hand-in- hand to ensure that we achieve a level of progress that has not been experienced before within the service," Dr. Lowe underlined.

Sites toured by ministry officials, BWA senior staff and members of the BWA’s Board, included the BWA’s Lodge Hill, St. Michael Reservoir; the Belle Pumping Station, St. Michael; the Golden Ridge Reservoir, the Bowmanston Pumping Station, St. John; and the South Coast Treatment Plant, Graeme Hall, Christ Church.

cgaskin@barbados.gov.bb

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