After Saint Lucia, Cuba is Next Stop for Natural Caribbean Wastewater Management Project

With Saint Lucia and Dominica now having joined Martinique and Guadeloupe in a Europe-backed regional effort to use natural means to marry wastewater and wetlands using a plant available in every island, the next stop is Cuba.

That’s the word from Executive Director of the Saint Lucia-based Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CAWASA), Ignatius Jean.

Jean and CAWASA late last month – and just ahead of observance of World Wetlands Day earlier this month – coordinated a visit here by a team from Martinique and France representing the Caribbean Cooperation for Wastewater Treatment Inspired by Nature (CARIBSAN), a regional project researching and training participants to develop technology for treatment of wetlands in Cuba, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Lucia.

Jean told The VOICE: “The visit here by the team was a great opportunity to meet face-to-face after most previous meetings were online and after they’d already been to Dominica to meet with the Dominica Water and Sewerage Company (DOWASCO), they were able to meet with WASCO and other local stakeholders.”

He said the meetings here involved the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO), as well as visits to local locations and two wastewater treatments plants — one public and the other private – “and allowed the CARIBSAN Steering Committee to review the project to date and plan the next steps.”

According to Jean, “We also met representatives of the ministry responsible for Sustainable Development and The Environment and wastewater teams at WASCO “to work towards establishing links directly with people as the plan unfolds.”

“We also met with the plant propagation division of the Ministry of Agriculture to assure a supply of Heliconias (the Bird of Paradise plant) and the related processes,” he added.

The CAWASA Executive Director said the visiting French, regional and local teams also engaged with the private sector at Ti Kaye Village resort’s reconstructed wetlands near Anse la Raye, as well as two private community locations in Soucis (Cul De Sac) and WASCO’s treatment plant at Beausejour.

Jean says “CARIBSAN has some interesting working experiences and ongoing projects regionally, not only in wetlands construction but also in several others aspects of water and wastewater management,” while “CAWASA is a key partner for capacity training through webinars and workshops until travel becomes better possible between the participating islands.”

He said the meetings here involved several discussions on training opportunities for Saint Lucia participants and more collaboration between CARIBSAN and CAWASA and their respective websites and social media platforms.

According to Jean, following the successful Saint Lucia visit, the next stop for the CARIBSAN team is Cuba, the fifth and largest CARICOM island participating.

“Our next engagement will be with Cuba through a visit to the island and engagements between Cuba, CARIBSAN and participating water entities from the host country and water operators from the other four English and French-speaking smaller Caribbean islands to its south.

He said that next step will naturally lead to an opportunity for partnership between them through an arrangement that will help build capacities in the various territories.”

The EUR 1.7 million CARIBSAN project is co-financed by the European Union (EU) through the INTERREG Caraibes programme, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Water Offices (ODE) of Martinique and Guadeloupe, with coordination in Saint Lucia by the locally-based Caribbean Water and Sewerage Association (CAWASA).