It could take a whopping $1 billion for the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) to complete a mains replacement programme across the island.
The BWA has lost thousands of gallons of the precious resource over the years, and later this year its major mains replacement is expected to hit high gear.
But in the meantime Government will be looking to the oceans to eventually provide this water-scarce country with an alternative to the current situation, which has seen Barbadians from town and country suffer water shortages or low water pressure since last Friday.
Minister of Water Resource Management Dr David Estwick yesterday noted that he empathized with the BWA in the face of its recent problems.
“What you have to realize is that in some instances we were dealing with water pipes and mains which are over 100 years old. It would be impossible for the BWA to predict when that type of equipment would go faulty,” Estwick said.
