The next glass of water you drink may contain a bit more nitrates than you bargained for – thanks in large part to squatters whose fecal matter contaminates the water table on which they’ve been illegally living since time immemorial. FYI, a significant number of them are not even Barbadian.

Under a previous government, much was said about squatters and little was done. In fact, one minister even chided those opposed to squatters as being ‘anti-poor’. The new government under Prime Minister David Thompson has also spoken out against squatting – but, for now, that is where the buck stops.

Now that these bits of negative press demonstrate that squatters are not only a hazard to themselves, but to the general public, can one expect to see a policy that has these squatter communities demolished, and the squatters (those who are genuinely poor) put on a sustainable livelihood programme to give them the capacity to live in and afford more suitable shelter? It may also be a good time to take notice of the giant elephant in the room and deal with the illegal immigrant problem – if that’s not too much to ask.

Reprinted from the Daily Nation, Barbados —

Agricultural runoff from St Thomas and St John, illegal dumping and squatting in one of the island’s biggest Zone One catchment areas have pushed nitrates to a dangerous level.

The situation is such that Government will be looking to start the much-touted water treatment plant in The Belle this financial year. This has been revealed by head of engineering at the BWA, John Mwansa, in an exclusive interview with the Daily Nation.

Mwansa explained that nitrates, which are found in human and animal faeces, must reach the level of ten milligrammes per litre before they “are considered objectionable”.

“At The Belle, they have reached a point where they are very close to limit. We are averaging about nine milligrammes per litre, so that is a worrisome position. So what we are looking to do at The Belle is increase the level of treatment,” Mwansa said.

He explained that nitrates found in The Belle were partly coming from agricultural fertiliser run-off. The Belle is a catchment area for St Thomas and St John, and Harrison’s Cave is part of The Belle catchment area.

“And then of course you have the human settlement. Barbados is a small island and you could only remove people so many times and then you have nowhere to put them,” he said.

The head of engineering noted that the next step for the island’s water pumping company would be to increase the level of treatment to water coming from The Belle Pumping Station.

“We are going to build something equivalent to a desalination plant,” Mwansa said. “It is expensive but we are looking for funding to put up the plant. The Government is actually helping to look for funds, and hopefully within this financial year some work will start on the tenders for the contract to build the plant.”

The Belle water catchment area is responsible for at least 60 per cent of the island’s drinking water.

Antillean · Bridgetown, Barbados

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