Drought management plan takes effect in Barbados

The Drought Management Plan will be accelerated to Stage 3, the final stage, if the situation does not improve.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, March 5, 2010 – Barbados has activated the first phase of a Drought Management Plan, becoming the latest Caribbean country to implement special measures in light of the protracted drought.

But no prohibition notices have been issued at this stage.

The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) announced the move yesterday, saying that increasingly dry conditions in the country have prompted the move. 

In this first stage, a BWA taskforce has been established to monitor key drought parameters and to coordinate the process of taking appropriate action.

”At this time, the Authority is encouraging customers to practice good water use habits and employ voluntary conservation measures,” the Authority said.

“These include abandoning the use of hoses for non-essential activities such as irrigating ornamental plants and washing vehicles. The BWA believes that voluntary conservation at this stage, if practiced islandwide, will go a long way towards avoiding undue dislocations and water outages, should conditions deteriorate further.”

The BWA said if the situation demands, it will move to Stage Two and the taskforce that has been set up will be expanded to become a multi-agency one and an official prohibition will then be issued. 

“This will be the beginning of the mandatory stage which will also signal the start of night-time shut offs in selected distribution systems. Mechanisms will be put in place to police enforcement of the prohibition, with offenders being dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the BWA Act,” it explained.

The Drought Management Plan will be accelerated to Stage 3, the final stage, if the situation does not improve. 

“At this point more austere measures will have to be employed. These will entail extended shut-offs in the distribution system, even at times during the day,” the BWA statement said.

The Caribbean Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology (CIMH) has predicted a dry spell that will affect the entire region for months. 

Already during this dry season, some areas of Barbados have begun to experience water supply problems and the situation is being aggravated by the numerous bush fires, which require much water to extinguish them. 

At least one of these fires threatened one of the BWA's pumping facilities and adversely affected the Authority’s ability to supply water from that location for several days.