Communication chaos!

WITH a week to go until Christmas Day 2019, I have decided to make a request.

Here goes… all I want for Christmas is a return to respect for taxpayers and consumers across the island and I will explain that further.

I have continued to highlight my frustrations with the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) and the level of service which is being delivered to the public. Yes, the public accepts and is sympathetic to the challenges which the BWA faces with ageing infrastructure and low water levels brought on by an ongoing drought. Those are issues outside of the BWA’s control, but what remains under the Company’s power is its ability to communicate effectively with the public on challenges which it faces. Sadly, that communication is woefully lacking.

Let me use an example from last week. I woke up last Friday, December 13th (I should have known that something would be amiss that day) only to find that the water pressure was lower than normal. So the normal rush to get a bath and breakfast was on. You have not lived until you are sadly used to lowish water pressure every few days or saying a silent prayer as you turn the faucet on and hope that liquid comes out.

The information from the BWA on the occurrence on Friday, December 13, was inadequate and sadly, par for the course. Firstly, a release from the BWA indicating the burst mains/repairs which it was tackling, included a line under the information stating that the Lodge Hill reservoir had ongoing pump issues and crews were attending to these challenges. It stated that residents who were serviced by this facility would face either outages or low pressure. Ladies and gentlemen, this information was posted after 3:30 p.m. The water in my area was off since 7:30 a.m. The joke was that water started to trickle again at 10 a.m. with pressure returning to normal by noon, but the information came after 3 p.m.

Some might argue that the water returned fairly quickly so I should be happy, but this is not the case. In professional matters, that information should have been posted long before, especially when a disruption of service is anticipated or has occurred. In a time when we are striving to improve the delivery of services across the island, how is it acceptable that the relevant information related to a relatively sudden outage can only be received nine hours after? The issue of acceptance of less than ideal service is the worrying factor. For too long, rather than address the problems faced with communication coming from the BWA, we have heard the skilful counter-narrative of the hard work of the crews and engineers, who are working long hours to restore the water service in affected areas.

I also applaud them, because it cannot be easy dealing with aged pipes and a distribution system which seems to break down if one sneezes too hard, but if we accept this analogy, then we are failing to place blame where it is due. It is unacceptable to believe that information cannot flow up the management chain, whereby the public can be informed at a more acceptable time.

It is what we choose to accept as a people. We are still awaiting improved garbage collection, despite assurances from one official after another that we should expect relief soon. There is no relief from the tax which is supposed to fund these miraculous improvements, but the public is supposed to sit back, be quiet and wait. This is still a democracy.

Last week the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) approved a US$30 million-dollar loan to finance the construction of a new marine outfall for the South Coast Sewage project. The CDB revealed that the project would cost some US$42.3 million with Government contributing some US$12.5 million.

When I read the release from the CDB, I chuckled to myself. The release stated that the collector pipe, which delivered sewage to the treatment plant and the forcemain, which connected the plant to the marine outfall,
malfunctioned at several locations. Sounds familiar right!

The CDB revealed that project will be a long-term and ‘resilient’ solution to the South Coast Sewage Treatment issues. It also stated that the new outfall will be further offshore and deeper than the emergency outfall and be ‘mostly buried to provide storm resilience’.

What stood out was the view that the design would allow for “future growth in the connected population and the population as well as the possible addition of other sewerage networks to the plant”. What does that mean? Does Government anticipate major population or business growth in the targeted areas? If so, when will the authorities address the public on the issues?

Where is the Minister responsible for Marine or Maritime Affairs on these matters? What impact could this have on our reefs? What impact could it have on marine life? When will the public hear from the Minister on these matters?

Is Government still dumping effluent into the Graeme Hall Nature Swamp? I remember two years ago when Ministers in the previous Government were ridiculed for swimming at Worthing Beach to give an all-clear after a sluice gate was opened to allow for water to flow into the ocean. It was hyped as raw sewage escaping onto a popular beach and some business owners in the area were interviewed as saying that the economic losses which they experienced were significant. Total silence now, as the sluice gate is opened with regularity and water flows to the beach.

Interesting! Maybe it is the messengers and not the message. Maybe it is not hearing a constant refrain of ‘effluent watchers’ on mornings, pointing out bubbles and smells. Maybe we are in a different time.

This does not excuse the fact that there are at least two Ministers who need to address the situations which I just raised.

Barbados Advocate

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Advocate Publishers (2000) Inc
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