THE GOVERNMENT OF BARBADOS is fully aware of the water woes and is focussing on solutions. So says Minister of Industry Donville Inniss, who assured Barbadians that help was on the way, but warned against ‘dangerous thoughts’ of causing social unrest over the current water woes. SATURDAY SUN dated January 2, 2016
Pray tell me, Mr. Inniss, are we still living in Barbados, or in North Korea, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, etc.?
As far as I can recall Barbados is still a democratic country with the right to protest being enshrined in our Constitution. So what codswallop are you spewing just because some people are saying that those who have been living without water for a considerable time want to “loot and riot, or otherwise create panic” if they protest?
What is your agenda, Mr. Minister?
There was protest action in St. Joseph today, 02 January, 2016. Was there “looting” or “rioting”, or did anyone create panic, Mr. Minister? The last time there was rioting in this country was 1937 – almost eight decades ago. As for the rigmarole of the populace using 95% of the water in the system, I call that nothing but a reason for hiking water rates again.
May I ask from where have you taken your facts?
In “Barbados – experience the Caribbean” published in 2007 there were 14 guest houses and 78 hotels listed. These include the whole gamut of hotels and guest houses. If we fast forward to 2015, some of the hotels would have ceased operation due to the so-called economic situation, but bigger so-called luxury hotels came on stream. Add to these hotels mentioned, the number of condominiums which have been allowed to be built, although they don’t hire many people and the much needed foreign exchange goes out of the island in most cases, and we get an idea of how much water the tourism industry uses.
How many millions of gallons of water would a hotel which has three golf courses, and a tennis court use per year, Mr. Minister, taking into into account also the number of rooms it has, the number of swimming pools it has, the number of bars it has, the number of restaurants it has, the number of Jacuzzis, etc. it has?
There are many hotels which have two or three swimming pools, the same number of bars, and the same number of restaurants – which, I suppose, need water morning, noon and night.
How about the number of rooms and the number of showers each hotel has?
Can one tell a tourist how long to stay under the shower, and how often he/she should take a shower?
Some will go swimming in the morning and take a shower after, and repeat this in the afternoon and the evening. They have paid for that up front, so not all of them will think of water conservation.
How much water do the gardeners use?
How much water does the private sector use?
How much water does Government use?
Minister Kellman is the first person who came up with such a ludicrous suggestion.
I didn’t go to UWI, but commonsense tells me that that could never be true – not for the numerous hotels, guest houses, condominiums etc. there are in Barbados.
Also, one must factor in the amount of water planes and ships take on when they visit Barbados – especially cruise ships which carry 3000 passengers and 1000 crew. Some hotels even have golf courses and tennis courts which must be watered. We must include stand-alone restaurants and bars, and Oistins Beer Gardens and St. Lawrence Gap – the place one says never sleeps.
You do the Math, and come and tell us the same cock and bull story after, and maybe, just maybe we will believe you!
Then again we won’t, because a cock and bull story remains just that, and we are not as dumb as you seem to think!
When I think of the amount of water wastage in the hotel industry, I would say that you mean that they are the ones which use the 95% of water.
Tourists even generate more waste than the populace of this country.
According to the Burnside Mangrove Pond Green Energy Complex & Beautification Programme Environmental Impact Assessment Outline review:
Waste generation is closely linked to population, though for Barbados tourism contributes a disproportionate amount of waste.A rule-of-thumb is that each tourist generates roughly three times the waste of a local person in the same period of time.
I assume that you have seen that EIA, seeing that you voted unanimously for the Cahill Energy project!
How much of our scarce water will Cahill Energy be using for free, only to pollute our country with its toxic fumes which it will be spewing out of its stack?
How much water will the solar plant to be built by the Del Mastro cousins use, Mr. Minister?
You say that that they are not excuses, but I see them as nothing else but!
“Digging for facts is better mental exercise than jumping to conclusions“, Mr. Minister!
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114 responses to “Water Woes Trending”
Well Well & Consequences2
People have been saying for years those golf courses are a waste of precious water, the politicians refused to listen. Common sense would have told anyone this, they did not have to go to UWI, just look at the mess the UWI graduates in government are making of their 7 year tenure and apparently have no clue how to clean it up. Their years of education was at taxpayers expense, no less. They do not even respect that. I bet there is no water shortage at Desert Rose Drive, Husbands Heights, St. James.
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John
The Government of Barbados has been aware of the water problems since Independence!!
The first water resources study was published in 1968, commissioned probably around independence.
I am ecstatic to hear a minister confirm the Government of Barbados is still aware of these problems.
I thought given their actions since independence that it wasn’t aware.
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John
We can celebrate 50 years of the Government’s continuing awareness of the problems!!
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Hants
If we know that Barbados is truly a water scarce country we should be building desalination plants.
All the water conservation efforts will not work if we have droughts almost every year.
Hoping for rain is not a plan.
Yes replace the leaking water mains and conserve as much as you can but every household in Barbados should have clean water every day.
There are direct health benefits to having clean water available all day every day.
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TheGazer
Love the expression “Hoping for rain is not a plan”. Adding to it, I will add “Neither is praying”.
We actually do have plans, but we just don’t follow them!!
Only thing left to do really is to pray and hope!!
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Donna
John,
50 years of awareness and 7 years of concern.
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Donna
I have a friend who keeps telling me that politicians do not really want to solve any problems. I am beginning to believe him. There are solutions aplenty out there. Some of them more cost effective than what currently obtains but they are hardly ever pursued. There are simple solutions to the filthiness that out country has become for example but I guess the two-legged rats have sympathy for the four-legged kind.
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Donna
Wait! We are again warned about causing social unrest? What is social unrest? Is it protesting and marching peacefully in pursuit of your rights? Are we not even to be afforded that without being warned. I didn’t hear the news clip so please say it isn’t so. You Mr. Davis MUST be misrepresenting the facts. Aren’t you?
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Colonel Buggy
We still have not got the message from the Politicians,especially those holding Ministries
I am OK, My Constituency is OK. Frig you whining lot!! (The Law of the Jungle)
They just need to educate a few more people from the top down about how the system works and the roles they need to play, from the top, to the bottom.
Make it mandatory for any politician or aspiring politician to travel down in Bowmanston Well in the bucket and actually see what is involved in getting our water.
Maybe leave a couple of them down there for a week or so!!
Why should the BWA have to resort to digging wells and renting Pine Hill Dairy trucks to generate and distribute water? Did the water shortage problem just sneak up on us?
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Retribution-things that make me go hum!
“Causing Social Unrest” – Stop complaining about any wrongs that are meted out to you!! Continue to suffer and; watch me, watch me hoverboard with my family.
⏲ Hold on, this is waiting to be approved by NationBarbados.
I’ve said this time and time again in the Barbados Nation Newsppapers. Call the BWA
manager, Dr.John Mwansa and Minister Dr. David Estwick and ask them about the
hundreds of millions of tax payers dollars already spent in the past by both political
parties to hire foreign consultants to develop plans to address the country’s water
problems. These two gentlemen are fully aware of the recommendations made by those
consultants’ reports. All the Barbados government needs to o right now is to implement
those plans. I know all of this because I was involved in preparing some of those reports.
And I have full details. The details are quite lengthy. But I’ll try to summarize and post.
However, what really baffles me is Dr. John Mwansa, the manager at the BWA, is totally
aware of these studies, and I’ve had email correspondence with him regarding this matter
and apparently, for what ever reason, he’s just not bringing this information to the
attention of Minister Estwick or PM Stuart. Millions of tax payers dollars were already
spent to hire foreign consultants to characterize the prolific freshwater lens existing in the
limestone aquifers under the island. A tremendous amount of geophysical work has
already been completed by the consultants. I’ll try to summarize what was done and
provide names of the foreign consultants who worked on these projects in another post.
There’s no way in hell citizens of Barbados should have to depend on water trucks or
desalination plants for their daily, basic water supplies!! Bajans. Breaking News!! Your
Government apparently has already made arrangements with the Suriname government
to purchase potable water at the rate of US$55 million a year from Suriname even though
you folks have far less expensive drinking water flowing in the limestone freshwater lens
under your very feet on every part of the island. Why not call and ask BWA manager
Dr.John Mwansa and Minister Dr.David Estwick to fill you in on these details.
Furthermore, ask your PM Stuart to speak with President Granger of Guyana. I’m certain
your PM can negotiate a far better deal with President Granger than the Suriname
Government. The water that Suriname is proposing to sell to Barbados is actually water
that flows in Guyana’s underground aquifers BEFORE it reaches the SAME underground
aquifers in Suriname. As you may know the meaning of the word Guyana is the “Land of
Many Waters.” If for some reason these two political leaders don’t know how to work this
out technically, I’ll provide FREE GUIDANCE to both of them!! Freshwater from the lens
located under the entire island is far cheaper than surface reservoir water or desalination
water. And there is no need to acquire expensive land in the case of surface reservoirs, or
membrane maintenance in the case of desalination plants. Let’s wait and see what the government response is. By the, I’m the best in the world at what I do.
Mia Mottley promises to write a letter to minister Estwick outlining the water woes of residents in St.Joseph, St.Andrew, St.Thomas and St.Lucy, we’ll know this is an ineffective tactic that will be punished with laughter by the PM. Dale Marshall is asking for water bill refunds.
Is this bunch of incompetents so sh*t scared that the people will speak up and expose their utter ineptitude, not to mention malfeasance, that they resort to pathetic threats of imagined riots and uprisings? All the people want is to be heard, responded to like intelligent human beings, and see the job done by those who were elected to do it. By the arrogance, dismissiveness and superciliousness displayed by ministers, prime and otherwise, towards the people, they are responsible for inciting the very responses they so fear.
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Mockingbird
All what what is missing now is barbed wire around Bim.
What exactly is the difference between colonial times and now ??? Are there any differences at all ???
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Colonel Buggy
Mockingbird January 9, 2016 at 10:09 PM #
The kick up the arse by the colonial masters was quite painful, but nothing compared to the kick up the arse that we are now receiving from our very own kith and kin.
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Box Cart
Then again we won’t, because a cock and bull story remains just that, and we are not as dumb as you seem to think!
Oh really, now why do I find that hard believe?
Oh yes! I now remember, the masses went with Dems again in 2013. This was after failing to fulfill any of the promises they made in the previous election.
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Bush Tea
@ Box Cart
You ever heard of Hobson?
You would have preferred the people to choose the RED devil over the deep BLUE Sea….?
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Donna
The BLP was the only alternative so the DLP won by default.
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are-we-there-yet
Donna and Bushtea.
I think the truth is that Barbados has been owned “lock stock and barrel” by the DLP since Barrow’s days and that it is only when a current manifestation of the DLP shows absolutely abysmal ineptitude (or promise) that some DLP voters omit to vote and the BLP gets a look-in to correct the course settings.
Mia Mottley promises to write a letter to minister Estwick outlining the water woes of residents in St.Joseph, St.Andrew, St.Thomas and St.Lucy, we’ll know this is an ineffective tactic that will be punished with laughter by the PM. Dale Marshall is asking for water bill refunds.
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And deserving so to be outwardly punished by laughter for the elongated hypocrisy shown by the BLP
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John
Part I
Well, at one time we were going to buy water from Dominica so Suriname is not so far fetched a possibility as one might think but I can’t imagine the Government would go so far when Dominica is probably closer.
Ok, so lets say we purchase water from over and away, Dominica, Suriname or wherever and it arrives in a big barge every week say, maybe every day!!
How much oil can an oil tanker carry?
Google!! says The largest tankers trading today are comparable in size and can carry up to 2 million barrels of oil. That’s equivalent to 84 million gallons, or enough petroleum to fill over 5 million average sized automobile gas tanks.
So getting 2mgd of water here is certainly feasible, probably very easy.
When it arrives it is unlikely it will be stuck into the distribution system just so.
It will pass through a purification process …. hang on a minute, why doesn’t the desal plant just desal some sea water?
The answer is simple, it is not a desal plant.
It just removes up to 1/7th of the impurities in sea water so it operates on essentially fresh water, which is referred to sometimes as brackish water.
…. and the fresh water comes from the same aquifer that supplies Belle, Codrington and Newmarket!!!
So Sir COW will sure be happy because the water from over and away will probably go through his water purification plant.
In a year, 2mgd adds up to 730 million gallons, at $55 USD it means each gallon will be costing $75,342 and 47 cents.
Clearly this water will also contain some dissolved gold!!
Even if we bought 50 million gallons per day at $55 million USD, the price per gallon would be $3,013 and 70 cents.
Waterman, you are pulling our legs (as the saying goes, full of the s word) but you raise an interesting scenario, what if we were to import water from over and away?
I’ll deal with that scenario in Part II.
BTW, were you one of the persons who called Brasstacks and claimed to be a fisherman who had spotted an icegerg with some penguins on it which you estimated would pass North Point at four that afternoon?
I hear Bajans enough flocked to North Point for 4 o’clock!!!
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John
Part II
Let’s assume we buy water from over and away to address the 2mgd St. Joseph shortfall caused by the reallocation of the Porter’s Catchment 20 years ago to accommodate the development at Westmoreland.
It arrives,
It passes through Sir Cow’s plant.
It would be folly to pump it up to Castle Grant 1110 feet above sea level.
Probably more sensible to extract 2mgd at a higher level, closer to Castle Grant and then pump the couple of hundred feet to Castle Grant.
If 2mgd is taken out of an already maxed out hydraulic system high up, it means low down will be short 2mgd ….. you can’t win, nothing in this life is free.
But the 2mgd is sitting available at sea level so replenish the short fall from that.
It still boils down that 2mgd will have to be raised 1110 feet.
Nothing in life is free!!
But guess what, the 2mgd is also sitting down at sea level in the Porter’s catchment.
Ok, lets look at a solution in Part III
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John
Part III
So what does 2 mgd look like and what can it do in the right hands?
Here is a picture of what it looks like in this Daily Mail article about what it can do in the right hands.
Every day, 2million gallons flows under the lake to the sea and is extracted for one reason or another to maintain the pristine nature of the development.
Some goes to maintain the level of water in the lake.
Ok, so sure the GOB knew the value of the last available significant water resource and its plan to allocate it b 1996 to the public water supply.
What could possibly have caused the change in plans?
Did GOB suddenly decide it was no longer working in the best interests of the Barbadian Public?
Yes, that’s right, it’s the Barbadian Public that have been harmed, not just the folks in St. Joseph.
Seventy five million pounds is a lot of money, even more than $55 million USD!!
So lets say the Barbadian Public reckons it has been scammed.
A fraud perhaps has been committed.
I recall that Royal Westmoreland was given a number of years to find an alternative source of water.
Did that part of the agreement actually exist?
If so how did it just disappear?
… and if so, how so?
Suppose the Fraud Squad is asked to investigate, can be by anybody in Barbados, or the Daily Mail is shown one of the consequences of the seventy five million pound sale and decides to loose its investigative reporters on what is rally a nice juicy story that will sell papers.
News of the World might do a better job!!
Maybe there will be a philanthropist that will appear from somewhere that will supply Barbados with an actual desal plant that will replace the resource that has been lost!!
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John
Epilog!!
So what are some short term mitigating measures a householder can use?
Have a read of David Commissiong and his description of how water is dealt with in the Bahamas.
Remember when you read it that the Bahamas is probably a more affluent society than here.
If I lived in St. Joseph with its bountiful rainfall I would never be without water!!
I would have water from the house roof going to at least a 55 gallon plastic drum.
As I could afford it I would buy a 200 gallon tank.
That water would be used in the event of outages to flush the toilet, wash the clothes and water any stock or dogs I had.
A washing machine can fill from a bucket too!!
I would get showers at my family or friends, what are they there for.
If I didn’t feel like intruding on them I would use the same rain water in a bucket and bathe myself at home.
Any time I was at a friend or family I would fill containers with water for drinking or cooking.
I would not whine when there are easily available short term measures.
The energy I saved in not whining I would direct at making sure the British Press knew of our plight as a result of the 75 million pound deal with a British citizen and pressing the Fraud Squad to investigate.
All Mr. Estwick has to do to really address this issue is go to the source of the problem!!
Go to the Fraud Squad and stop whining!!
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Well Well & Consequences2
John….you nailed it, all Bajans have to do is start exposing all the politician’s fanciful scams with foreign rich people that are obviously aimed at disenfranchising the majority on the island, just to assauge their insatiable greed. The police force should be able to bring fraud charges, despite the DPP being a questionable character.
We used to be self sufficient with electricty being generated with wind driven dynamos,water coming from the stand pipe,food from the back yard,medicine from the hills and gullies with a bit of rum daily,very few illnesses due to hard work,land was plentyfull and achievable and at 7th standard we knew how to listen and read what was happening around the world and further their education with correspondence courses.
That generation travelled the Caribbean to work and some wnt to the USA & Canada.
We used to have a foundary that could repair or make any machine part required,they were responsible for maitaining the Factories and the BWA machinery.
These are some of the memories of my Dad,who would been well over 100 today………reading John’s comments made think of how we threw out the baby with the bath water.
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are-we-there-yet
Vincent;
True!
But we’ve now become acculturated to lifestyles that would be more appropriate to a suburb in Miami.
Yuh remember ……..
when someone from a typical family of 5 went to trust essential groceries from the neighborhood shop, one small non-disposable bag would always do?
when plastic bags were a luxury?
When the water to fulfill all the needs of that family was about 50 gallons a week?
When very little garbage was generated and just enough to keep the small fleet of garbage trucks in business?
When a very good salary was 70 dollars per month and could keep a family going in some style?
When the majority of the housing stock consisted of a one-shedroof board-and-shingle house? etc. etc.
The “advancements” in Barbados and the Caribbean over the last 60 or so years carried some hidden stings which it seems many of us are only now beginning to appreciate.
It now seems to be the in-thing to castigate the two political parties for their part in fuelling the transition from the predominantly menial society of yesterday to the “conspicuous consumption” one of today. But how many of us would want to go back to the privations of yesteryear even if we could?
To my mind we need to come to grips with what is entailed in crafting a truly egalitarian modern society and identifying the basic things that the poorest and neediest member of that society must have and enshrine those basic needs in achievable ironclad charters for minimal standards for 21st century development in Barbados.
The Government would have to give its binding committment to ensure the minimum provision of certain basic facilities to its citizens. Many of the provisions would not be directly provided by Government but it would have certain means to regulate such provisions. Indeed, in some cases, for Government to undertake making meaningful provisions, it might have to delink itself from direct involvement in some existing agencies while maintaining strict regulatory control, including punitive penalties, over non performance issues by the direct providers.
Some of the provisions/ targets under a charter might be:-
Access to x gallons of water per day to each citizen
Availability of electricity of x kwh to every household
minimum wages in specific sectors
Efficient Public Transport systems through the maintenance of x buses per member of the travelling public.
And of course none of the yardfowls will remember since they have short and convenient memories about the BWA scam where one of their employees stole water for residents in Sunset Crest and they had 10 years of free water at taxpayer’s expense while he ran off to England with the bribe money…I have not heard of any extradition request for him to serve time in prison for theft….but the hypocrites for yardfowls want to blame the majority who pay water bills for the access to water problems caused by DBLP…….do you see that Scummings.
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Vincent Haynes
@are-we-there-yet January 10, 2016 at 2:54 PM #
The long and short of it is that with mauby pockets we insisted on drinking champagne for the last 45 years,we did not understand that one creeps before one walks and that all the capitalist education system does is to condition you to join the treadmill of creating debt ridden masses.
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are-we-there-yet
Vincent Haynes
True!
Well said!
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John
Check Singapore if you want to see how they did addressed their water issues over the decades!!
First World thinking …..
I am not saying Third World thinking is bad, just that if you don’t know where you are going any road will get you there …. and “there” usually is no where!!
Sometimes no where is good too, if you know how to be happy and content!!
And Singapore has approx 6 million people crammed into a space yeah bigger than Barbados. There need to be a school just for politicians and they don’t get to manage any ministry or sit in parliament until they qualify. Stupity will not be a requirement.
@David, and anyone else interested, it has been announced just now that Brasstacks will be carrying a live press conference shortly from Minister Dr. David Estwick re water situation.
@David and everyone, distilling down to the policy proposals I was able to glean several short-term and medium term measures from Minister Estwick’s press conference:
Short term measures:
Several loans have been funded by IDB, CBD for water mains upgrades and infrastructure and one with CAF under negotiation.
BWA now has capacity to monitor reservoirs and detect leaks
Two short term policies under way: (a) St Philip Augmentation Project (will seek to pump water from Bowmanston to Castle Grant/Golden Ridge) and (b) New capacity at the Lazaretto to allow water from desalination plant to west coast but they are not sure how are up the coast it can go.
8 more water tankers have been ordered to supplement the 4 or 5 currently here.
Expansion of waterwell at Groves in St. George
Medium Term
Two desalination plants – will be saltwater plants. Will be more expensive than brackish water but given current and water levels in the future, saltwater plans are the only feasible options
Water Re-Use Policy – allows bajans to use harvested water. They are currently working on the regulations etc…
To explain my comment on another thread, I was initially put off because it sounded too much at first like the Minister was speaking more to the Opposition than the people affected so it came over as lacking empathy. However, he has outlined what they are doing.
What I would have liked to hear more of was the tanks. Residents have complained they are not regularly filled and are unhygienic. It would have been nice to hear what would be done to address that.
Thanks Alicia, what we need to hear more is the impact of minister Estwick exercising crisis powers under the Act on our debt profile.
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John
We know already from the Apes Hill experience that Salt Water desal is not an economic option and they needed access to the catchment area for Trents pumping station …. hence the dam at Farmers.
Wonder how much these two desal plants will cost us ….. and more importantly … wtf the GOB plans to do with the water?
…. assuming it actually has a plan!!
The vultures are a circling …. we should watch for kickbacks because real money like it is goin spend!!
Andrew Hutchinson is in the VoB studio doing a post Estwick interview, did we hear him say Three Houses Spring is not that bountiful a supply contrary to popular opinion?
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Artaxerxes
The residents of those areas affected by water outages complaining for months could NOT provoke a response from Estwick.
It had to take the opposition to provoke him to respond.
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Vincent Haynes
Vincent Haynes January 13, 2016 at 11:35 AM #
David&CTL
First had to apportion blame stating dates of ’97,’04&’06 studies were done and the pending crisis identified and nothing was done except build a brackish water desal plant which was not utilised at full capacity,however he could not give a convincing reason on why since 2008 nothing was done,since he had read the studies,nor why it took so long to decide that two salt water desal plants were needed urgently.
Brasstacks is continuing the discussion with an expert whose name I did not catch.
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Vincent Haynes
Huchinson has just confirmed what I have been saying ad nauseum,we have studies and do studies upon studies,as he just sited a 1976 water study.
We know what to do but we suffer from implementation deficit disorder.
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