By John Peters
The rapidly changing environment around us demands that we begin to take ownership of the challenges that Saint Lucia is facing and the hard decisions that must be taken at this time. The days of grants and soft loans have ended. Our historical partners are all facing fiscal challenges.
Canada is facing an economic crisis, the EU nations and the UK are now forced to spend more on their defence, leaving nothing for aid and soft loans to the Caribbean, and the USA has no need for us at this time. At the age of 47, we have to dance to the music on our own.
In such an environment, hard decisions are required, and the historical practices of governance must end. We have a situation where almost every state-controlled entity in Saint Lucia is failing. No parastatal corporation is contributing to the public purse. An examination of the historical failure would show that lack of accountability and poor governance have plagued these institutions.
It is the expectation of those who have helped in the campaign of the successful party at any elections in the Caribbean to be rewarded with a position on the various boards. Loyalty trumps competence, and thus unemployed and unemployable persons seek to generate a return on their electoral ‘sweat equity,’ by getting on these state boards. This is the governance crisis that emerges. The legislation that created all of these state bodies has a built-in accountability mechanism, which requires the laying in parliament of their audited accounts.
It is an organisational disease that Caribbean States cannot afford. There is no fiscal space to be funding the loss created by boards which are flooded by those who have no expertise in the related field and who have no desire to be accountable to the parliament.
This brings me to the present conversation on WASCO. All of the Caribbean States have issues with their water supply. Trinidad and Tobago has tried privatisation on at least two occasions over the last 40 years; both attempts have failed miserably. Saint Lucia flirted with the idea, proceeded to privatise the Water and Sewerage Authority and formed WASCO, and turned around and ran it as an Authority.
I would wish to comment on the desilting of the John Compton Dam and the expenditure of over XCD 60 million to remove 84,700 cu,m of silt within the Dam. Firstly, one needs to understand the purpose of the Dam. It is a storage reservoir of raw water at a high elevation; the raw water then travels by gravity to the Water Treatment Plant at Ciceron. This treated water is then distributed to the North of the island. In simple terms, there is Storage of Raw Water, transmission of Raw water, treatment of raw water and transmission and distribution of treated water to the homes and commercial entities in the North.
If the John Compton Dam is filled to the brim with raw water and there is a failure of the transmission line of the raw water to Water Treatment Plant, then there will be no water in your tap. If the Treatment Plant breaks down, then there is also no water in your tap. In other words, it is an integrated system, and prioritisation is driven by an understanding of this integration.
Let me use a simple analogy: suppose an individual was injured in a vehicular accident, and it is known that his arteries are clogged, would the doctors first try to stop the loss of blood as the most important medical attention, and when the individual is stabilised, then deal with the other medical issues? If there is agreement with that approach in medicine, then I assume that if the raw water lines are leaking millions of gallons of water and you have siltation at the Dam, that your priority would be the repair the raw water lines.
For nearly 15 years, the conversation was on desilting the John Compton Dam, and thus, I applaud the present management of WASCO for pursuing funding from the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) for the replacement of the failed raw water transmission pipeline. The CDB must also be subjected to some criticism in not directing WASCO in this regard, in prioritisation of the works.
Let me put this in perspective: 84,700 cu.m of silt was removed at say, a cost of $ 60 million. 84,700 cu.m is equivalent to a volume of 18,631,395 gallons. This is where it becomes totally ridiculous, in the ensuing period of the desilting of the John Compton Dam, WASCO lost more water through the leaking raw water lines than the volume of water storage gained in the dam through desilting. If ever the term “money down the drain’ is relevant, it is in this situation.
Where do we go here, from now on, WASCO?
I would recommend the following:
- Proceed with the CDB-funded replacement of the raw water pipeline and ensure that there are competent consultants overseeing the contractor, who have a full understanding of construction law and the working of the FIDIC form of contract.
- Purchase a Dredge, which will be stationed within the Dam and develop a maintenance program for yearly desilting.
- Refurbish the Theobalds Water Treatment Plant
- Pursue the establishment of groundwater wells to supplement the water supply in the North. There is clear evidence of groundwater in Union, where a large lake was formed after hurricane Tomas and is constantly recharged from the groundwater supply.
It is proposed that this lake and surrounding lands be acquired and a Packaged Treatment Plant installed, with treated water pumped to the Degazon Water Tank. This will take away the supply to Grand Riviere/Corinth from the John Compton Dam.
I have full confidence in the management team at WASCO. I have known the senior technical management team in Aly Anthony and Jim King, both hard-working engineers, for many years. I have known the general manager /CEO Zilta George – Leslie for many years, very competent indeed, and one understands the very difficult situation she is facing, with the limited funding available.
Let us hope they get it right with the replacement of the raw water line.
