Water Day focuses on disasters
When a hurricane strikes, often with as much as twelve inches of torrential rain, we don’t often realize that one of the greatest needs following the storm is clean water. Today, on the occasion of Inter-American Water Day, I discovered that the provision of that essential natural resource requires serious planning.
Jacqueline Woods, Reporting
The next time a hurricane or any other natural disaster hits Belize, will we have access to safe water?
Carlos Fuller, Chairman, National Pro Temp Water Commission
?In fact we have to recognize that immediately after the disaster, people need to be self sufficient, so we always ask as part of your hurricane plan to make sure you have enough drinking water that is a gallon or two for each person to last two, three, four days because water could be disrupted.?
In case of a disruption, as required by law, all water service providers should have an emergency plan to ensure people have access to water in as little time as possible. Chief Meteorologist and Chairman of the National Pro Tem Water Commission, Carlos Fuller, says if all goes as planned the delay should not last for more than seven days.
Carlos Fuller
?So they do have provisions in place however after a major disaster they would need to go and flush out their pipes with chlorinated water, make sure its disinfected, repairing leaks and so on so within a week or so we would be getting back in operation, but for the first few days we have to be self sufficient.?
According to the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, in the past thirty years, natural disasters have affected over one hundred and fifty million people in Latin America and the Caribbean. This year, hurricanes Frances, Charley, Ivan and Jeanne damaged the water resources of several countries. The situation heightened the concern of scientist and policy makers prompted them this to focus on Water and Disasters: Targeting the Services, as the theme for this years? Inter ? American Water Day.
Carlos Fuller
?Even though water is essential for life, unfortunately if it is mismanaged it can also lead to disasters. We saw it for example in the past two months with all the hurricanes that went through Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, the Cayman islands even the United States, the Bahamas were affected by the flood waters. It is not so much the fact that we had too much rain, but the fact that we have misused the environment and not been able to allow the environment to not absorb that amount of water.?
Closer to home, there has been the contamination of water in some areas of the country.
Carlos Fuller
?Again, we have seen the cases where in San Pedro; we have to now desalinate water. In Placencia, we have to pipe in water across Big Creek and just in the past week the Sibun River has been affected, again not because of the water itself, but because of what man kind has done to water and so we need to now put in the mechanisms so that we no longer misuse the environment around the water, so everybody can then have access to safe drinking water.?
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While access to safe drinking water in Belize has been improved with ninety-five percent of the urban population having access to sanitation services, the same cannot be said about the rural population where sixty percent of the people still use latrines or what is commonly referred to as out houses. It is in these communities that the risk for water and food borne diseases is greater after a natural disaster. It is also interesting to note that although the water supply in urban areas is considered safe for drinking, twenty two percent of households use bottle water. Today?s fair created an environment that encouraged water providers and suppliers to work better together.
Carlos Fuller
?Because we have so many different users of water, we have many agencies that regulate water and we are not talking enough with each other. As a result of that the government has now created water pro tem commission to ensure that we are all speaking with one voice, that we ensure that one provider does not infringe on the rights of another user of water.?
Today there are ten water bottle companies operating in the country.
On a regular basis the Ministry of Health does monitor to ensure that the country’s potable water supply meets the minimum PAHO standards. The Ministry of Health also tests the rudimentary water supplies like wells. Water Day, which is commemorated annually on the first Saturday in October, was today celebrated with a fair at Constitution Park. The activity highlighted the contribution of Belize Water Services Limited, bottled water companies and the Ministry of Health.
