The water bill, though, was a totally different story. It seems because the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) is Government-owned, many Bajans expected some kind of ease, even when their arrears were alarmingly high.

This belief was bolstered through the years with the intervention of politicians from the governing party of the day on behalf of their constituents – the householders in arrears.

The BWA has now signalled that it intends to collect the reportedly $20 million plus owed to it. In a series of advertisements in both the print and electronic media, the authority has warned customers whose accounts are in arrears to settle them before June 30.

After this date such settlements will be dealt with through their debt collection agency.

The BWA further noted that agent's fees for settling arrears could become the responsibility of the delinquent customer.

This raises big questions.

Will the public take the BWA seriously? Will politicians again try to interfere with the process?

We say this because back in April 2004 the authority issued a similar stern warning, with then Prime Minister Owen Arthur saying about 25 000 consumers owed the BWA $22 – far from unsatisfactory.

At that time, the then BWA project manager, marketing and communications, Dale Miller, further stated the authority was prepared to cut off up to 400 delinquent customers per day if they failed to pay arrears or arranged to settle.

This time around, the BWA is placing the matter in the hands of their debt collectors and this should make a great difference in how successful their collection efforts are pursued.

But there is a bigger issue at stake here. That is, whether the public recognises it or not, it will not be business as usual at the BWA in the coming months for three significant reasons:

* The move to vest the rates for which water is billed in the Fair Trading Commission (FTC) similar to the other utilities;

* The need to stop the financial haemorrhaging at the authority due to the rise in fuel costs through the years with no concomitant increase in water rates;* The fact that Barbados is a water scarce country and more serious conservation measures must be employed to reduce wastage. This would be difficult to achieve if people continued to pay peppercorn rates for the precious product.

If the removal of subsidies from fuel and flour imports is anything to go by, it is reasonable to conclude that the David Thompson administration would be inclined to deal firmly with the untenable fiscal situation in which the BWA has found itself. Something certainly needs to be done.

However, it is hoped that in Government's quest for financial prudence, every effort will be made to help the most vulnerable cope with the seemingly inevitable increased costs for water.