Caribbean Must Improve Wastewater Treatment – Pickersgill

Minister of Water, Environment, Land and Climate Change, Hon. Robert Pickersgill, said there is an urgent need to increase the coverage of wastewater treatment in the Caribbean.

He said current wastewater treatment levels within the region are far below what is needed, pointing out that as much as 85 per cent of wastewater entering the Caribbean Sea is untreated.

He noted this was unacceptable based on the fact that the Caribbean "is the region in the world most dependent on tourism for jobs and income".

“In addition to the environmental impact, damage by untreated wastewater to the marine environment can result in severe social and economic consequences for people in the region,” the Minister stated on Feb. 7, at the official launch of the Global Environment Facility/Caribbean Regional Fund for Wastewater Management (GEF/CReW) project at the Terra Nova Hotel in Kingston.

Citing statistics from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Minister Pickersgill said in 2001, 51.5 per cent of households in the Caribbean region lacked sewer connections of any kind, and only 17 per cent were connected to acceptable connections and treatment systems.

Within Caribbean countries, less than two per cent of urban sewage is treated before disposal, and unfortunately the figure is even lower for rural communities, he stated.

Mr. Pickersgill said that while governments in the region have worked hard over the last few years to improve wastewater management, much more needed to be done and with urgency.

Among the positive developments, he said, are the establishment of the Protocol Concerning Pollution from Land-Based Sources and Activities (LBS Protocol) and the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention), and gave the assurance that Jamaica will become a signatory to the LBS Protocol, which was ratified in 2010, in short order.  

Even with these advances, the Minister argued that the region must begin to prioritise the development of innovative financial mechanisms, and affordable resources must be made available to assist in the establishment or expansion of domestic wastewater management programmes and policies.

He said the GEF/CReW initiative “is very worthwhile and welcomed” in this regard. The initiative, which is being funded by GEF aims to provide sustainable financing for the wastewater sector; support policy and legislative reform; and foster regional dialogue and knowledge exchange among key stakeholders in the wider Caribbean.

The four-year project will also receive support from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which will serve as co-implementers.

The Project Coordination Group (PCG), based in Jamaica, will carry out the day-to-day management of the CReW project under the oversight of UNEP and IDB, and comprises a Project Coordinator, a Technical Specialist, a Communications Specialist and a Financial/Administrative Specialist.

The PCG will be supported by Pilot Executing Agencies (PEA) in four Caribbean countries: the National Water Commission in Jamaica; the Ministry of Finance in Belize; the Ministry of Housing and Water in Guyana; the Tobago House of Assembly in Trinidad and Tobago; and by the Secretariat of the Cartagena Convention (CAR/RCU) based in Kingston, Jamaica.

By Athaliah Reynolds, JIS Reporter