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What is the Quality of OUR Water?

Barbadians received the good news this week that the volume of rainfall the island experienced in September, October and November 2016 will solve the low level in the water table in the near term. The bad news is that sewerage pipes have been leaking in the tourist belt. Although principals at PAHO and the BWA…

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filters
Filters on the right

Barbadians received the good news this week that the volume of rainfall the island experienced in September, October and November 2016 will solve the low level in the water table in the near term. The bad news is that sewerage pipes have been leaking in the tourist belt.

Although principals at PAHO and the BWA have had to publicly refute social media reports questioning the quality of the local water, there are doubts. The management of the BWA have been assuring Barbadians the rust coloured water is as a result of sediment build up in the pipes and a 30 minute flush of the main SHOULD solve the problem.

The following note was received from a BU family member.

Have you checked the quality of your potable water recently? I just replaced my inline water filters again and as you will see in the attached photo, it is not a pretty sight.

Manufacturers recommendation for replacement of these filters is three months or 15,000 gallons. The displayed filters are reflective of only two months use.

Now get this – one filter should be enough to clean up the water supplied to a residence. I have had THREE filters installed in order to inadequately cope with water impurity. The filter on the left in the photo is a 10 micron filter for fine sediment. This was installed as a first defense. The filter on the right is 5 micron to reduce EXTRA fine sediment. These are installed before the tank. There is a third filter of 5 microns to further reduce sediment, taste and odour. This filter is not shown as it is black and offers no visible indication of its condition.

So, my question is “What is the quality of your water?”

Would the Ministry of health allow coconut vendors to sell coconut water of this quality to the public or would it be considered a health risk?

24 responses to “What is the Quality of OUR Water?”

  1. Anthony Davis Avatar
    Anthony Davis

    Mark Parisien, head of the commercial section at the Canadian High Commission in Bridgetown – who has to do with the reverse osmosis plant which was to be built at the Belle pumping station – stated: “. . . only 30 per cent of the island’s water was drinkable.” Seeing that no one has refuted that statement, I guess it’s true! Why is that plant no longer viable?

  2. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    I am puzzled by the statement made by the govt official which was to the effect that it would take some length of time for the recent water to reach the aquifer……yet we were told before that it only takes 3 months…..can some one clarify this.

  3. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    We do not or cannot get truth from this government………..so we are left in the dark to read between the lines and speculate.

    This is a very serious situation and although I personally did not share the views expressed a few months ago about the excess lead in our water, I can well understand people’s anxieties. What are the citizens to do when their elected government treats them with scant respect and do not speak to them.

    But………….come let us celebrate Barbados!

  4. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    We heard the BWA’s squakers , recently praising the quantity of water produced by the bore holes in Sweet Vale to feed the Castle Grant Reservoir. My question is, when is the water coming out of the bore hole treated. And do not tell me when it reaches Castle Grant Reservoir, as already service connections have been made on the new pipe line between Sweet Vale and Castle Grant.

  5. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    Prodigal
    We are dealing with the most ineffective,inefficient,pig headed government ever in the history of Barbados led by a super JA who doesn’t have a clue about anything other than blaming the BLP,the BSTU,the BTU,the NUPW,and the BWU for all the ills afflicting this once blessed country.These rotten-to-the-core slime bags are an affliction on Barbados.Everynight all their ugly evil faces spewing lies on the DLP T V.Where the hell these people come from?Who invite them to govern Barbados.I hope you,the 40% who failed to vote in 2013 have read the tea leaves.Thanks to you,the 40%,we are all in ducks guts.You had better bestir yourselves next election and remove these bag blind,barefoot hoes and bastids,chocsutters and sumsbeeches and consign them to the nethermost part of hades, where they deserve to be to forever burn in hell….to hell with the DLP.Effing swine.

  6. nineofnine Avatar
    nineofnine

    It leaves one to think why is BARBADOS is painstakingly undergoing hardship with the supply of water, is it the quest for a monetary grant offered via AGENDA 21?. HERE BELOW is part of that protocol for “WATER MANAGEMENT”

    …18.86. The Conference secretariat has estimated the average total annual cost (1993-2000) of
    implementing the activities of this programme to be about $100 million, including about $40 million
    from the international community on grant or concessional terms. These are indicative and order-of magnitude
    estimates only and have not been reviewed by Governments. Actual costs and financial
    terms, including any that are non-concessional, will depend upon, inter alia, the specific strategies
    and programmes Governments decide upon for implementation

    18.88. The development and implementation of response strategies requires innovative use of
    technological means and engineering solutions, including the installation of flood and drought
    warning systems and the construction of new water resource development projects such as dams,
    aqueducts, well fields, waste-water treatment plants, desalination works, levees, banks and drainage
    channels. There is also a need for coordinated research networks such as the Internat ional Geosphere-
    Biosphere Programme/Global Change System for Analysis, Research and Training (IGBP/START)
    network

  7. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    How long will the sheeple accept it……that is where it lies…..they have to sense danger and react.

  8. Lee Avatar
    Lee

    Poor, Peaceful, Pious, Polite . . . . and now Poisoned too? What a hapless state we are in ! Isn’t it time to import river water from Suriname yet?

  9. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    The Bishop of Barbados and Archbishop of the West Indies,Dr John Holder has offered to the BWA, and by extension the people of Barbados, the ample supply of gushing spring water which issues forth from the Codrington Estate in St John, eventually ending up in the Atlantic Ocean.

  10. nineofnine Avatar
    nineofnine

    Like the well at TRENTS PLANTATION in St. James, being raised there, the water quality was so pure and readily that we drank straight from the tank,,, now the BWA has their hands on it….there are similar wells existing on other plantations.

  11. Shontelle R. Brathwaite Avatar
    Shontelle R. Brathwaite

    The high quality of Barbadian water made my bones healthy and strong. A coral lime- stone island with many nutrients and minerals. A religious upbringing is also useful, some churches, such as the Church of Christian science do not utilize medicine, fearing it’s harm, they rely on prayer and natural medicine. I hold to our home remedies and foods myself, usually only going to the doctor for a yearly check-up.

  12. John Avatar
    John

    The output from the Codrington Spring already is allocated.

    It has been in use I believe since the late 1800’s, early 1900’s

    My impression is that it was added to feed the pipe run from New Castle Spring to Bridgetown which was instituted in the 1860’s.

    Drought and an increase in demand on the Newcastle source required additional sources!!!!

    Barbados has been there, done that!!

    There is a 200 foot tunnel at the foot of a 28 foot access shaft which was cut into the side of the cliff above Codrington College which I think was made to search for other sources.

    Probably in the 1880’s.

    It is dry so the result of the effort failed.

  13. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    John, where does that water we see running at Bath Plantation/MTW depot originates from?

  14. John Avatar
    John

    I have never seen the actual spring but I suspect if walk towards the cliff from Bath house you would find it.

    Rain falls and the coral cap on the top of the cliff collects water. The oceanics under the coral cap direct the water either towards the cliff face or away from it depending where you “look”, if you could look under ground.

    The water flowing underground to the cliff face comes out wherever it can, through whatever crack it finds.

    Ends up as a Spring,

    If you read Senn, (Public Library) you will see he describes four types of springs on page 60 and 61. He doesn’t say anything I could easily find about the one at Bath.

    The water ends up flowing through the fields, towards the chimney in the factory yard and to the sea at Bath Beach where the waterfall can be observed.

    …. and that’s why Bath had a steam factory, a good supply of water.

    Interestingly he describes three springs in the coral area, Beckles Spring which was just by the Bay Mansion is one, another is at Amity Lodge, Graeme Hall Swamp and a third is down Spring Garden.

    These he describes as depression springs … Graeme Hall swamp is a depression, below sea level so underground water flow comes into it and is exposed as a lake.

  15. John Avatar
    John

    Sorry, vaguely remember going to look at the spring at Bath in the cliff. Memory not as good as it used to be.

    Seem to remember some civil works, probably to do with water supply to the factory.

    The 200 foot tunnel in the cliff is closer to Codrington College at a place called Goddard Rock.

    No prizes for guessing early Goddard’s were Quaker!!

  16. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    John November 22, 2016 at 3:58 PM #
    Memory not as good as it used to be.
    …………………………………………………………………………………………
    All the more why you should put your experiences and observations into print, along with any photos that you have taken.
    There will come a time, given the state of which the island is now in, that many of those remote places which you have visited, will be lost to the next generation , due to the rapid encroachment and spread of tropical forests.

  17. John Avatar
    John

    Had 2 inches and 82 parts of rain today.

    Wish I had gone down to Tudor Bridge to watch Belle Gully.

    One year I saw a torrent passing under the bridge heading for Bridgetown.

    I have seen (and heard) numerous gullies in operation during heavy rainfall and crossed a couple with water up to my chest.

    The nicest ones to watch and the easiest ones to access are of course, Belle Gully as it passes under Tudor Bridge.

    Blowers Gully, Lancaster Gully and Kellman Gully can all be safely and easily observed from the bridges which span them on Highway 2a.

    Since I set up the gage in September, this is the second day I have seen this type of rainfall.

    So far, since September total rainfall up my side has been 19 inches and 49 parts.

    Looking at the averages islandwide published back in 1984 by the Barbados Sugar Technologists Association of rainfall data going back to 1847 it looks as though we have had an average year for these three months.

    The island wide average between 1847 and 1983 for September, October and November was 22 inches and 53 parts.

    The average year for this period was 59 inches and 98 parts.

    I am missing one week from September and it remains to be seen how much falls between now and the end of November.

    Rainfall measurement used to be a standard practice on plantations because it was a good predictor of what sort of cane yield would result.

    With electronic gauges easily and cheaply available perhaps the BWA should invest in several, network them with wireless and place them all around the island.

    Maybe coordinate with BL&P and put them up the poles to avoid interference by the public.

    If they have not done so already the potential to give them advance and measurable warning of problems is there.

  18. nineofnine Avatar
    nineofnine

    dig soakaways in gullies and dam them

  19. John Avatar
    John

    Watching the predictions of a La Nina episode I am guessing December, January and February, perhaps through to August 2017 may be wetter than normal but who knows. I will observe and learn!!

  20. John Avatar
    John

    December to February on average produce 10.36 inches of rain so we may get more.

    The remaining six months, March to August, produce just under half of the rainfall for the island

  21. John Avatar
    John

    nineofnine November 23, 2016 at 9:56 PM #
    dig soakaways in gullies and dam them
    ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    No point.

    The gullies themselves are cracked and fissured so are natural soak aways.

    Can’t store the volume and it really only happens a few days in a year.

  22. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    Suriname’s solution | Barbados Today
    Suriname’s solution
    Auke Piek, a 44-year-old Dutch engineer, says he has a solution to the Caribbean’s worst drought in half a century –– and it lies hundreds of miles away in the tropical rain forests of Suriname. This week, a boat will tow a giant bag made from…
    By Barbados Today

    http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2016/11/24/surinames-solution/

  23. John Avatar
    John

    Looks like the first tug will bring as much water as would hold in an Olympic sized swimming pool.

    ….. now, just google “how much water does an olympic size swimming pool hold”.

    http://www.patagoniaalliance.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/How-much-water-does-an-Olympic-sized-swimming-pool-hold.pdf

    Answer is just over 1/2 million gallons!!!

    Off the top of my head I would say Barbados consumes upwards of 35 million gallons per day.

    The plan is to have the tug bring 16 times that when the scheme gets going.

    That’s about 8-9 million gallons per trip.

    That’s a lot of H2O

    Now, ask how long does the trip take, back and forth?

    It is going to be several days … there are no supersonic tug boats.

    According to google it is 681 miles.

    With no load lets say a tug goes at 13 knots.

    So it will take about four days to make the return journey if it isn’t loaded

    Lets be optimistic and say 2 weeks, 16 days approximately.

    One tug can thus produce approximately 1/2 million gallons per day.

    I would love to see some real figures.

    My quick analysis suggests that it might be better to lay a pipe!!!!

    If you look at Singapore you will see that’s what they did … but the distance across the Straits of Johore is tiny compared with the distance to Surname from Barbados!!!!

    Different strokes for different folks.

    Last time the politicians talked about laying a pipe it was to bring Natural Gas from Trinidad!!!!

    We already have to much gas and hot air here!!

  24. John Avatar
    John

    t has been done for fuel in World War II, a pipeline was laid across the English Channel in an operation codenamed Operation Pluto.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Pluto

    Since then, Pluto is more identifiable as the name of a cartoon character, a dog, a creation of Walt Disney!!

    … and of course it is a planet.

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