Minister Nicholas Says Regional Cooperation Can Help Improve Antigua’s Water Supply

Utilities Minister Melford Nicholas says Antigua and Barbuda is looking to regional expertise and a proposed catastrophe insurance programme to strengthen its water utility and improve the reliability of supply.

Speaking from Grenada, where he is attending the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association’s 35th annual conference and high-level forums, Nicholas said discussions were providing practical lessons for the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA).

He said a key area of consensus was participation in a regional catastrophe insurance programme for utilities, an issue also addressed by Grenada’s prime minister during the opening ceremony.

“One of the issues that we have been discussing and have arrived at consensus is that we are all undertaking to be a part of a regional catastrophic insurance programme for all of our utilities,” Nicholas said.

The minister said the conference reinforced that Antigua and Barbuda’s water challenges are shared across the Caribbean, although their severity varies according to each island’s geography and access to freshwater.

Some territories have mountainous landscapes and more abundant freshwater resources, he noted, but utilities throughout the region face the same fundamental task.

“Generally, we are facing the same problems of getting pipe-borne water to each and every household, each and every business, each and every community,” he said.

Nicholas said Antigua and Barbuda’s main takeaways would include refining operational processes and identifying practices that have produced results elsewhere in the region.

He pointed to Belize as an example, recalling that discussions at the previous conference in San Pedro highlighted a reported non-revenue water level of 22 per cent, which he described as among the lowest in the Caribbean.

Non-revenue water refers to water that is supplied into a distribution system but does not generate revenue, including losses through leaks and other factors. Reducing those losses is an important consideration as utilities work to improve service.

Nicholas said bringing technicians, service providers and policymakers together allows participants to examine common problems and identify opportunities for improvement.

“We are learning collaboratively from each other’s pitfalls and successes,” he said.

He also credited the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association and the Caribbean Water and Sewerage Association with supporting technical training and helping utilities keep pace with technology.

For ministers, Nicholas said, the exchanges provide an opportunity to assess the policy decisions needed to support more dependable water services.

He said the central objective remains ensuring access to potable water around the clock, even as climate change creates further challenges for the region.

“When policymakers like ministers come together, we get to recognise what further steps we may have to take within our own countries,” Nicholas said, identifying the goal as water available “on a 24 by 7 basis.”