St Lucy residents have expressed frustration and scepticism over the Barbados Water Authority’s (BWA) recent “all-clear” notice, claiming tap water remains discoloured and unsuitable for everyday use despite official assurances of safety.
The Ministry of Health issued the all-clear on Tuesday, advising St Lucy residents to resume normal water usage after numerous sanitary water tests reportedly confirmed safe conditions. A statement from the ministry’s Environmental Health Department indicated satisfaction with the effectiveness of a scrubbing and chlorination exercise conducted by the BWA. According to the ministry, the water samples taken across several areas of St Lucy showed improvements in clarity and colour, leading to the removal of a prior Boil Water Notice.
But many St Lucy residents argue that the water quality at their taps had not visibly improved.
When Barbados TODAY visited the parish, Clement Oliver said that after the announcement was made, the water flowed clearly from the pipes for one day, and then it returned to various discolourations, sometimes flowing clear.
“Day before yesterday morning, when I opened the pipe, I tell my wife, ‘Listen, this water is so pretty. Yesterday, the water was like orange juice and this morning it looked like pond water’.”
Oliver added that when the announcement came over the radio that the water was safe for consumption, his wife filled a bottle with water to prove it wasn’t.
He explained that although they do not drink the water, they do wash and cook with it. However, he contended, “The truth is, it’s not good for drinking, period.”
Another resident, Reverend John Carter voiced concerns over the safety of the water, questioning the BWA’s response to what he sees as a significant health issue.
“You’re bathing in this water, it can’t be healthy for your body,” he said. “I don’t even know what people who have animals are doing, you know, because I can’t imagine giving the animals the rusty water to drink also.”
“I am using my washing machine with this water, but that is not good for your washing machine to start with because the rust can affect the working machine. But in addition to that, if you have to wash white clothes, you can’t get white clothes kept white in this discoloured water.”
He acknowledged that infrastructure improvements are in progress but expressed concern about the duration of time residents will have to wait before it is fully resolved.
Reverend Carter proposed a solution to the government while they await the water main replacement project. He said every householder in St Lucy who does not have a tank, should be provided with one.
“I’m saying provide the people with the water tank and let them pay for it over a period of time. Pay it off for maybe two or three years or whatever, depending on their income level,” he said.
He also called for a water distribution schedule to inform residents when tankers will be coming.
“There’s no schedule. I ask them to give me a schedule as to when the tanker will be coming. Now I know that the tankers are servicing other parts of Barbados and they probably have a limited number of tankers and crews, I understand that. But give me some projected scheduling… so that I can adjust my functioning accordingly. I can’t stay home all day.”
Reverend Carter was also adamant that it was unfair that residents have to pay a regular water bill if they are unable to receive clean, pipe borne water.
He also rubbished the BWA’s earlier Boil Water Notice: “You can’t boil dirty water and make it healthy. I mean, this is nonsensical. How can an intelligent person put out a statement like that? I would like that person to come over here. See this water that I just caught here? I would like him to come down and drink, take a drink of that water. Not only that, I want to bring a container, catch some of this water and take it home to his wife, or if it’s a woman, take it home to her husband, her family and let them cook and drink this water that they asked us to use.”
When asked about using a water filter, he confirmed that he used several, but the water was still discoloured.
“My fridge has a filter on it. I have a filter, when the water comes from their distribution main…. When it leaves the metre it goes to a filter. I got two filters, I got one there and I got one here. You see the condition of the water. Somebody said you probably got the wrong filter. But the filter is not doing what they say it would do because the water itself is not being filtered in a clean way.”
louriannegraham@barbadostoday.bb
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