Hundreds to Benefit as Barbados Prime Minister Promotes Water-Saving Initiatives
March 19, 2024
Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley urges Barbados residents to install water-saving devices. Funding of $1.5 million allocated for vulnerable groups and government departments. Additional $2 million for loan facility for water-saving device installations.
PRIME MINISTER MIA AMOR MOTTLEY is appealing to householders across Barbados to install water-saving devices.
She announced yesterday that the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) will be granted about $1.5 million to provide the devices to about 1,200 vulnerable groups and “high-usage Government departments.”
Delivering the Financial Statement and Budgetary Proposals in the House of Assembly, Mottley also said the state agency would get a further $2 million “for a revolving loan facility” for others who will not receive a device but want to borrow money to install water-saving devices in their showers and kitchens, and toilets.
Mr Speaker, I’m investigating whether we can increase the loan amount at the Water Authority so that [it] can act as a financial intermediary as well on some of these critical things like tanks, and pumps. You pay back your water bill every month, and therefore you can agree to amortise it, to stretch it out over a year, two years or three years, as I said.
“But it is not a nice thing for people to wake up in the morning and don’t [have] water, not to mention the public health implications,” Mottley said, adding, it was imperative that the BWA execute the water conservation programme “as a matter of urgency.” (GBM)
