St. Lucia government declares water emergency amidst continuing drought

CASTRIES, St Lucia, Thursday May 21, 2015 – Government has declared a water-related emergency for all parts of the island, effective yesterday and running until July 31, as the drought situation showed no signs of improvement and water levels decreased. This type of emergency is declared when a shortage or deficiency of water exists or may soon exist. Minister with responsibility for the Public Service, Information, and Broadcasting Dr. James Fletcher said yesterday, in a national address on the measures to deal with the drought, that river flow rates around the island were below expected base-flow rates.

“The information presented to me by the Water Resource Management Agency indicates that from the data collected at George F.L. Charles Airport and Hewanorra International Airport. St. Lucia is currently experiencing a long-term meteorological drought,” he said. “To make matters worse, because of the intense heat we have been experiencing, the rate of evaporation has also increased. As of May 11, 2015, the water level at the dam was 81.6 inches below the spillway, or a little less than seven feet below the high point of the dam. We are roughly at the same point we were last year, but with faster rates of decline of our water levels. If we do not take action, we expect the water level to drop an additional 6.8 feet by the end of May and a further 12 feet by the end of June. This would be catastrophic.”

The Caribbean Drought and Precipitation Monitoring Network has issued a drought warning for the islands of Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao, Antigua and Barbuda, Cayman Islands, Dominica, the eastern part of the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Martinique, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and northern Guyana. Due to the emergence of an El Nino, which often results in a drier dry season later in the year, the forecast is that islands in the south eastern Caribbean that have existing water shortages may not see any improvement until the Atlantic hurricane season or wet season starts.

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