Water Trucks

There is a trail in the Central Rainforest Reserve; it is east of Soufriere and at the foot of Mount Gimie, the highest mountain peak in St Lucia. It is a remote, yet unbelievably scenic, with a combination of Rainforest, Cloud Forest, Elfin Woodlands and wildlife.

The trail is famous for its two cascading waterfalls and pools at the head of the Troumassee River. It rises in the centre of the island, flowing to the mouth close to my village.


This is where my village accesses water. We don't get our water from the Dam in the north that is losing water at the rate of one foot per day. And this is the reason why I still have water when much of the rest of the island suffers for days with dry pipes. Lately, I have seen small tanker trucks in my village and wondered about them. A few days ago Angelina explained the trucks were transporting water to other parts of the island.

The country's water system is in disrepair. Much of the water traveling through the pipes never arrives at the faucet. It has been estimated that up to 50% of the water escapes through the leaks in the pipes.

When I first arrived on the island in 2008, there were meetings about this situation. An outside foreign company proposed management of the water system, fixing the broken pipes and creating a more efficient water system.

I don't know where the proposal ended up, but I do know that people were complaining that their water bills would rise if this was allowed to happen. Now the proposals include deep-well drilling, desalinization and buying water from Dominica. The government is hoping Saint Lucians will buy large storage tanks to house private emergency water supplies.

I don't have the full picture, only pieces of a broken system in an emergency state. Still, in the absence of all the facts, it is alarming - and likely a glimpse into the future of Saint Lucia.