Business owners seek clarity on South Coast fix

Business and property owners on the South Coast of the island have requested that the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) give a definitive timeline on when the “sewage crisis” in that area will be fixed, so they can plan the way forward for their operations.

The call came as the Barbados Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) held a sensitisation meeting along with the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel yesterday, to provide clarity and answers for businesses affected by the South Coast sewage problem.

President of the BCCI, Eddy Abed, joined with BWA General Manager, Keithroy Halliday, to host the meeting.

“We felt that it was important that the BWA come to a talk shop like this to inform members…where we are with the [sewage] problem on the South Coast… and most importantly, how long will it be before it is at the stage where we can resume our day-to-day lives on the South Coast,” Abed said of the meeting.

“As business people, we currently still are experiencing losses and downsizes in our business activities, but more importantly, I can tell you as a business man, it is one thing for me to plan for a worst case scenario for over two months, and it is a completely different thing to plan for it for over two years. I think that we need to get rid of that ambiguity and seriously have a window as to what we can expect and more importantly, put the necessary stop gap measures in place to deal with it,” Abed stressed.

However, Halliday stated that a definitive timeline as to when the problem will be fixed completely could not be given, due to the magnitude of the issue and the work to be done.

He said however that the BWA is empathetic to the challenges property owners and others on the South Coast are facing and he maintained that the Water Authority is working around the clock to resolve a number of the problems. These include sewage backing up on properties as well as waste water flowing on to the streets in key locations at Rendezvous and Hastings in Christ Church.

“We recognise from experience and from what is happening around the world, that whenever (problems like this) occur it does take time and extended periods of time to actually arrive at the resolution that we seek, which is to fix the entire sewage collection system. But in the interim, what we need to safeguard and what we need to make sure is that we can keep our streets dry, so that the businesses can continue as usual and so that the effect that you have experienced will be minimal,” Halliday told those gathered.

“So in terms of giving you a timeline that would give you some mode of comfort for planning purposes, what I was saying is that we cannot give you absolute numbers to work with.

“We (cannot give) you guarantees in any respect, except to say that we are really doing our best one; and two, over the last four to five months, we have made good progress, though it might not seem that way to you,” he added.

Halliday did however acknowledge comments made by the BWA’s Director of Engineering, Charles Leslie, that the promised injection wells should be ready by the end of May. He did note that once the BWA can use those wells to divert waste water and reduce sewage spills, work can then begin on the key pipelines that have been breached, as well as the installation of a possible permanent by-pass main to replace the current temporary one, to fix the problem. However, the BWA teams will still not be able to give a definitive date for a fix until they can get on the ground and make various assessments once the wells come into play. (RSM)