CAWASA Accelerating Change To Solve the Caribbean’s Ongoing Water, Sewage Problems

by Earl Bousquet Today, March 22 is World Water Day. The 2023 theme, designated by the United Nations (UN) is: ‘Accelerating the Change to Solve the Water and Sanitation Crisis.’ Another sub-theme is ‘Groundwater: Making the Invisible Visible’ — and both apply across the Caribbean. This year, World Water Day also coincides with the UN’s annual World Water Conference in New York, taking place today with the Caribbean widely represented. The Caribbean Water and Sewerage Association (CAWASA), which unites related national entities, is continuing a months-long series of training courses in ‘Wastewater Treatment and Wastewater Collection’ to benefit four CARICOM member-states (Barbados, Belize, Grenada and Saint Lucia). The regional project, entitled ‘Water and Wastewater Capacity Building Program in the Caribbean,’ is being implemented by CAWASA in collaboration with the Operators Without Borders (OWB), a Canadian non-profit group of water and wastewater volunteers. CAWASA’s Saint Lucia-based Executive Director Ignatius Jean says the project was initiated on May 23, 2022 when the UN’s Environment Program (UNEP) and CAWASA signed a Small-Scale Funding Agreement (SSFA) under the GEF CReW + Project. Its overall objective is: “To strengthen the capacity-building initiatives in the Caribbean Region by supporting the regional Water and Wastewater Operator training...