First real visit out to the Waste and Sewage Authority (WASA). This gave us the first real impression of the water security issues on the island. While talking to the WHO Compliance Officer at WASA, it was noted that a bit more than 50% of the population has access to water 24/7. This was quite staggering to me considering how much water was used during carnival. I suppose Port of Spain would be better suited for receiving water as it is the capital of Trinidad. Further surprises was that the tap water is 100% potable as it follows the WHO guidelines of water. I might attempt my stomach’s fate at the tap water seeing as I wouldn’t want to purchase anymore water.
Back to the WASA facility, the water level in their lake reservoir has dropped an inch since Carnival was running. This is a considerable amount seeing that this was in a southern and more remote part of Trinidad, not Port of Spain. The lessons that was learnt during their most water stressed time allowed them to manage the consumption of water more appropriately by controlling the distribution of water. This is contrary to my expectations before coming in as I thought the consumption rate was poorly manage. This does not seem to be the case as they have foresight to curb the demand so that the reservoir and aquifers still have time to replenish itself. Even if it means the population goes without water sometimes. Though, Trinidad does work on a water tank storage at every household so there is some buffer in case there is no water.
Afterwards, we visited the University of West Indies (UWI) and discussed the issues of tourism taking an impact on agriculture. As tourism increases, food for these tourists must be met and results in more production of agriculture. The catch 22 is that this could further drain the water supply even more. There should be a strategy to increase agricultural production while maintaining water security. This to me is where I’m most excited about aquaponics as a potential solution to help in water and food security. We will see tomorrow after our visit to the aquaponic station. An idea would be to increase food production with aquaponic systems to help with maintaining the water supply with the increase of tourists.
Feb 20 – Day 4 – Tobago Department of Natural Resources
At the Botanical Gardens with the Department of Natural Resources, Forestry management sector, it seems the presentation should’ve been done on the first day of breaking down the issues of water security and how it affects different sectors and key players. The presentation addressed many key issues surrounding water security including climate change, which is a focus of my groups research project. However, there was not much information about lowering water in aquifers and more salination in the groundwater or the effects of the removal of mangroves. They said it wasn’t much of a pressing issue at the moment so it seems there was not much focus regarding it.
An introduction to water management that I have not considered was the metered water, which will help with the management of water supply because the individuals and household will decrease usage as they see their bill for the water. But it cannot happen too quickly as people will revolt and needs a gradual implementation. This could play into an integral part of management of the water supply once it is implemented as more conscious water conservation measures will be taken by the household.
Dams Reservoir
Then, together, we took a trip to WASA, Hillsborough dam. There was an interesting conversation between WASA and forestry management regarding the sludge from the dam as its just dumped. That pollution will seep into the aquifers. It felt very corporate with a lot of public relations to try and boost their campaign of water. They didn’t have a straight answer of “no” but instead lots of ideas that have already been thought of to continue increasing supply. A lot of the information had been supplied by the Navet dam. Though the new information, such as the detailed WHO guidelines, a more in depth look at the treatment of the water, the filling of the reservoir, cleaning the dam, operating the dam, and other supply of water other than the dam were topics that were not addressed at Navet.
Control valves
In line with Navet dam, the discussion of the management of water during stressed times was elaborated. They start controlling the water supply during dry season as the water reservoir depletes so there is a schedule to store water into the reservoirs at home. Once those reservoirs are filled, it is up to the individuals to manage their own water. As the water reservoir depletes more at WASA, there will be more strict management of water as they can control the valves that feed into the neighbourhood. This kind of control allows the aquifers and lakes to be replenished, instead of having it drained completely, which will not be sustainable.
Asphalt Quarry
An observation made on the way up the hill, there was an asphalt quarry. The river upstream was nice and clean with a WASA treatment plant to help treat and distribute the water. Just downstream was the asphalt quarry and from there is just polluted water which does not get cleaned or treated. WASA does not want to clean the water downstream because it cost too much to clean that water. There needs to have policies onto those kind of industries to keep the water clean and make the companies pay.
This introduces economics that have been overlooked the whole trip, aside from a brief discussion of government subsidies and the serviced population paying.To fund the cleaning of the water, someone needs to pay. A Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) could be implemented. Simon Davids from the Forestry management said that the U.S has PES implemented and it is beneficial because polluters pay.
Another observation made as we travelled through central Tobago, we were pointed out more results of the agriculture degradation. We saw the burning which degrades vegetation and negatively impacts the infiltration of water into the soil and produces more runoff and less replenishment of the groundwater supply. This was pointed out by the forestry management.
