00:00The issue of climate change has been pushed to the forefront this year at the 33rd Caribbean
00:08Water and Wastewater Association Conference and the 20th High-Level Forum for Water Ministers
00:14for which the Declaration of Port of Spain has been signed.
00:19Minister of Public Utilities Marvin Gonzalez says similar challenges are being faced in
00:23the different jurisdictions and collaboration is key.
00:27As a matter of fact, at this conference we have decided that we are not going to refer
00:31to it as climate change, we are going to refer to it as a climate crisis that we are currently
00:35battling.
00:36So we are in a climate crisis and we are working together to ensure that we build that level
00:41of resilience and protect our people.
00:43A decision taken in the declaration which has now been agreed to by regional counterpart
00:48ministers responsible for water resources from Guyana, St. Lucia, Nevis, Belize, Barbados
00:55and last but not least Trinidad and Tobago.
00:59Outgoing President of the CWWA Marlon Daniels notes that it is the third declaration to
01:05be signed, first being the Declaration of Basseterre in 2019 and then the Declaration
01:10of Georgetown in 2023.
01:12The overarching fact is that the declaration is birthed from the ministerial process and
01:18it reflects the cogent issues that face the Caribbean and how we intend to solve those
01:22issues.
01:23So whilst it is non-binding on the governments, it is a commitment from the visiting ministers
01:27and from their governments that together we work with our funding partners, with the CWWA
01:32and with our collective governments to fix the issues that we have identified.
01:36At a two-day CWWA conference at the Hyatt Regency from October 21st, the issue of funding
01:42was one of the main talking points.
01:45While this resource is available, timeliness has been deemed a problem.
01:49I implored our international lending partners, the CAF, IDB, CDB and the World Bank that
01:58they need to look at their internal processes to ensure that whilst we are prepared to partner
02:04with them, that the internal processes reflect the urgency that we are in.
02:12At the opening ceremony on Monday, Chairman of the Water and Sewerage Authority Ravindran
02:17Nanga, Senior Counsel, noted that water resources are threatened at this time.
02:22So we have embarked upon a very rigorous well drilling program.
02:26We have sent out an emergency tender for desalination plants, modular desalination plants to supplement
02:33the difficulties that we face.
02:36And at this point I would like to indicate that at the authority, although we indicated
02:40that we were open for business last year, given the strides that we have made, WASA
02:45is not only a Trinidad and Tobago Water Authority, first and foremost, we are a Caribbean authority
02:51and we look forward to collaboration with all our partners within the Caribbean sector.
02:57And according to Nanga, WASA is also looking for the same on an international level.
03:03In March of this year, Minister Gonzalez mentioned a plan to construct two smaller desalination
03:07plants to be located in Moruga in Trinidad and Charlottesville in Tobago.
03:13On another note, on Wednesday, the CWWA presidential baton will be handed to Trinbagonian Candice Santana.
03:22Alicia Boucher, TV6 News.
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