Government is working on rectifying the situation that has hampered the effective functioning of the Barbados Water Authority’s (BWA) smart water meters.
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley, in an address to the nation from Ilaro Court this evening, revealed that Government is in the process of resolving the BWA’s contracts and obligations, with respect to receiving software codes for its smart meters.
“We are literally trying to extricate ourselves from all kinds of contracts and obligations that make no sense whatsoever, including at the Barbados Water Authority, where the issue of software codes continues to be contentious with respect to our capacity for the Barbados Water Authority to appropriately read meters automatically,” Ms. Mottley explained.
She noted that the smart meters, which had been procured prior to her coming into office, never had software codes, and Government was now being asked “to pay more money in order to use a meter and to have the appropriate automaticity of reading what we expected when the meters were bought”.
Ms. Mottley continued: “We should not, years after, be struggling to be able to find access to being able to do that. And we hope that the codes would have been sent. There are issues I’m told now relating to other aspects of software as well as, other requests for payments, and this makes no sense, and I’ve asked the Director of Finance and Economic Affairs to get on top of this immediately, and to ensure that no inappropriate advantage is taken of the Barbados Government with respect to this matter.”
While on the matter of water issues, the Prime Minister revealed that Government is trying to come up with a clear framework and policy for the use of non-potable water.
She also made a plea for the conservative use of water, so that everyone could have access. “Could we please conserve water? Could we please ensure that the things that we mindfully did without thinking twice, that we pause and recognise that there are some, whose access to water is compromised by the excessive use of water elsewhere?”, she urged.
Ms. Mottley noted that the Barbados Water Authority has some challenges, but that they can be rectified.