Basseterre, St. Kitts, May 02, 2014 (SKNIS): Kittitians are being dared to do at least one small thing to conserve water as a means of addressing the negative impacts of climate change.
This forms part of a public awareness campaign by the Water Services Department (WSD), which is being sponsored through a regional project funded by USAID and implemented by the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).
Anyone can participate by filling in a simple pledge form that indicates exactly which steps they promise to take to conserve water and submitting it to the WSD. The pledge form suggests a number of options and also allows space for other creative ideas.
“The steps are easy,” notes Dr. Halla Sahely, Manager/Water Engineer at the WSD. “Simply making sure your toilet isn’t running, checking for leaks, turning the tap off while brushing one’s teeth – these are all simple things that we believe each and every one can do. I’m positive that each Kittitian can commit to making at least one small change while our pledge drive campaign runs until early next year”, she notes.
She added that there are also direct rewards being offered to businesses and households that save the most water every quarter for the duration of the campaign.
The first activity will be a ceremony and exhibition on Thursday, May 08, 2014 at Independence Square from 10:00 AM. This will allow the public to interact with various stakeholders such as the Departments of Physical Planning and Environment, Water Services, Agriculture, Marine Resources, Tourism, Constituency Empowerment as well as the St. Christopher National Trust and UNESCO about the impacts of climate change on various sectors and what can be done in response.
Forms can be found at the WSD office at Needsmust and at Inland Revenue service outlets, or downloaded and from the WSD’s website at www.water.gov.kn.
Preliminary estimates are that about 46% of the water distributed in St. Kitts is lost due to leakage both on the Utility side and on the Customers’ side. This has a value of millions of dollars. Estimates from the WSD suggest that climate change will adversely affect both the quantity and quality of the island’s water supply.