1. Regional Policy Briefing no.7
Water Resources Management in the
Caribbean
Protecting fresh and coastal waters
and building climate resilience
Christopher Cox PhD
Programme Director
Caribbean Environmental Health Institute
23rd April 2012
Pointe aux Piments, Mauritius

2. Presentation outline
 Background
 Climate change and water resources
challenges
 Response toward building resilience
• The IWRM approach
• Initiatives
• Lessons learnt
• Partnerships

3. About CEHI
 CEHI was established by
the Governments of the
Caribbean Community
(CARICOM) 1989 to
respond to the
Environmental Health and
Management concerns of
its Member States.
 Through CARICOM
Protocols it is an Institution
of the Community
 Has 16 Member States
 Located in St. Lucia

5. Status of freshwater resources
 Water supply
• Surface (rivers, springs, ponds) – dominant overall
• Groundwater – drier islands/karstic environments
• Desalination - drier, more populous islands
• Rainwater harvesting – micro-islands; isolated communities
 Internal Renewable Water Resources (IRWR) (source: FAO)
• Antigua & Barbuda – 800 m3/capita/yr
• Bahamas - 66 m3/capita/yr
• Barbados – 301 m3/capita/yr
• Jamaica – 3,651 m3/capita/yr Bahamas
 Main demand sectors:
• Tourism Antigua &
• Agriculture Barbuda
• Industry
Jamaica
• Residential
• Hydroelectricity
Barbados

6. Status of freshwater resources
 Uneven rainfall distribution,
periodic drought conditions;
 Infrastructure – high
vulnerability to hurricane / flood
damage
 Poor and aging water
distribution and sanitary system
networks
 Land-based pollution - poor
solid and liquid waste
management & unsustainable
land management
 Force to look at alternatives –
desalination; rainwater;
recycling

7. Fresh and coastal waters degradation
 Pollution - greatest threat to natural
environment; impacts long-term
socio-economic development
 Fresh and coastal waters –
receiving environments for pollution.
 Primary pollution sources
• Point sources (industries, sewage
treatment plants, marine vessels);
• Urban non-point runoff (stormwater
runoff and combined overflow
discharges);
• Non-urban non-point runoff (farms,
livestock pastures);
• Irrigation return flows (irrigation water
return to a lake, stream or canal)

8. Climate Change and water
 CC will force additional stresses
 Caribbean climate modeling predictions:
• changes in patterns of rainfall accumulation
and distribution
• overall trend to less annual rainfall – 25 to
30% reduction
• more extreme events
 Serious implications for water security
• reduced aquifer recharge rates
• sea-level rise; saline intrusion
• storm damage to infrastructure and
contamination: landslides, floods
 Health impacts
• Vector proliferation

9. Water governance issues
 Institutional and regulatory frameworks not ideal
• no unified WRM policy
• absence of national “apex” bodies
• Inadequate national water laws
• Multiple agencies - fragmentation
• Inadequate data
 WR management - typically within realm of
water utility operations by statutory authority -
dual, conflictive roles
 Water not valued as an economic good
• Low level of priority; Cost recovery challenges

10. Integrated Water Resources
Management (IWRM) approach
 Process of sustainable development, allocation
and monitoring of water resource use in the
context of social, economic and environmental
objectives
 IWRM in SIDS must consider both domains of
freshwater and coastal waters
• Other ways of saying; in context of the spatial
dimension:
• Ridge to Reef (R2R)
• Integrating Watershed and Coastal Areas management
(IWCAM)
• White water to Blue Water (WR2BR)
 IWRM provides unified management for water
services provision and waste water
management
• Waste waters are typically discharge to sea with
coastal resource user conflicts
 Work supported under GEF-IWCAM Project

11. Land-based Sources of Marine Pollution
(LBS) Protocol
 Cartagena Convention (1986) – protection of
Caribbean Sea
 LBS Protocol - General Obligations
• National Planning e.g. EIAs
• Integrated Coastal Zone & Watershed Management
• Environmental Monitoring & Assessment
 Specific Obligations for Major Pollutants
• Effluent & Emissions limitations, Time Tables for
implementation, & Classification of Recreational
Waters
• Best Management Practices
• Most Appropriate Technologies
 Embodied within the National Plan of Action
(NPA)

12. Progress - National actions
 National water policies, strategies developed – highlight climate
change as a key driver
• Grenada, Jamaica, St. Lucia have policy statements
• Jamaica advanced toward development of IWRM Plan
• Trinidad & Tobago WR master planning process underway
 Community mobilization in WRM
• Water conservation
 Application of new technologies; water augmentation
• Ground water exploration in Tobago, St. Lucia
• Rainwater harvesting – many countries
 Land zoning for water supply protection
• Barbados – 5 zones based on sensitivity; longstanding policy
 Water supply and sanitation
• Rural infrastructure expansion – all countries; variable progress
 SUPPORTED BY VARIOUS REGIONAL & INTERNATIONAL
AGENCIES – PROJECTS AND PROGRAMMES

13. Challenges…lessons being learned
 Selling IWRM; concept is vague to most - Climate change provides
a good entry point
• Perceived to be rather academic; tangibles not readily apparent
• IWRM remains in realm of water and natural resource professionals
 One size does not fit all
• Varying circumstances between countries
• Geography (water regime), demographics, biodiversity
 How does it fit in day-to-day?
• How does it affect a business bottom-line, what does it matter to
communities?
 What are the costs to implement?
• Current national circumstances; can we afford dedicated resources?
• Resource constraints – limits implementation
 Water-land management
• Land management and administration creates dysfunction re: resource
supply side
 MOVING FORWARD…
• Development of national IWRM Plans

14. Partners in water

15. Caribbean Environmental Health Institute
The Morne, PO Box 1111, Castries, St. Lucia
Tel: 758 452-2501; Fax: 758 453-2721
E-mail: cehi@candw.lc
For more resources and
information see our website at
www.cehi.org.lc