Feb 21 - Day 5 - Tobago - Tourism Association

Feb 21 - Day 5 - Tobago - Tourism Association

A hotel in Tobago

Talking with Christopher at the Tourism association, we learnt that there is “no” water issue because hotels get the priority from WASA and so they don’t “feel” the lack of water supply running through  the country. This is one point of view compared to the other visits we have had where the others have been saying there is a security issue. However, Christopher is still an advocate of water conservation. Some measures implemented are more efficient shower heads, adopting farmers who grow food for the restaurant and WASA has been metering the water on the hotels.

Water metering helps hotels see how much water is being consumed as the cost is reflective of that. The more expensive the water, the more conservation will happen. Currently, it’s only hotels that do the metered water, not individuals. This is inline with Simon from the previous day talking about metering water. This will help with the funding of clean water supply as mentioned in yesterday’s journal, there has not been enough to address the funding shortfall. WASA currently runs at a loss and needs to increase the rates and meter the water to help alleviate the government subsidies. However, this needs to be done in accordance of ratio to the income of the population, as some might not be able to afford basic water and would put a strain onto their livelihoods. Metering hotels and large industries while putting a PES in place would help distribute who-gets-billed-more more equally.

Pigeon Point Resort

As villas and hotels are built, roads are built with water supply and pipes underneath them. The risk is that this prevents rainfall absorption to replenish the aquifers when there are more villas and hotels built. And when the pipes burst, they have to dig up the entire road causing a lot of economical challenges in which they cannot afford. This is inline with the discussions with the Compliance Officer at Navet Dam with water not accounted for because there are leaks in the system.

This also perpetuates the water insecurity issue as we have noted on one of the first days with the discussion of increased tourism at UWI. This increase demands more agricultural production, which creates more water stress. It is struck with lack of water replenishment because of the new roads creating a barrier to infiltration creating a shortage on water. However with Christopher at the the Forestry Management, he has noted that there has been a decrease in food production and an increase in food imports. This discrepancy of facts shows the inconsistency between the institutions that study or enforce sustainable water practices, as Christopher had mentioned there is lack of communication between all.

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