Water prohibitions ends

The water prohibition, or ban on excessive water use, has been terminated as of August 31, 2023.

This was announced by the Barbados Water Authority in a statement this afternoon.

The water prohibition was announced in late April as a precautionary measure, after data collected by the BWA projected major challenges with meeting the demand for potable water given a 40 per cent decrease in rainfall and drought conditions at the time.

The measure was also extended at the end of June.

However, the BWA now says a review of the present climatic conditions on the water resources on the island, shows there has been a small but generally consistent improvement or recovery of the island’s groundwater levels and that the salinity levels along the West Coast have stabilised.

It notes when examined in conjunction with the outlook from the Barbados Meteorological Services, which is predicting average rainfall levels in September and above average for October and November, this improvement is expected to continue as we progress into the rainy season.

The BWA says for these reasons the decision was taken to discontinue the prohibition at the end of August 2023.

However, Barbadians are still being asked to conserve water as there is a possibility the prohibition could be reinstated should there be a negative variation of weather away from the modeled forecast.

The Authority says enhanced monitoring of coastal wells along with weekly monitoring of the inland wells will continue.

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