WASCO is responsible for the provision of potable water and sanitation services for the whole of Saint Lucia. Due to the prevailing geographical and climatic conditions, sus-tainable water supply is at a knife’s edge. Matters were made even worse as a result of hurricane Tomas in 2010 and the low-level trough heavy rains in December 2013. Most of the water supply systems have been affected and severe damage was done to the water supply infrastructure: Intakes, transport mains, reservoirs and pumping stations where flooded and partly damaged and the continuity of supply disturbed. Furthermore part of the infrastructure is old and needs to be replaced. According to a study on NRW executed by the consulting firm St. Lucia Water Partners in 2013, the non-revenue wa-ter was calculated at more than 56 %.
The following general performance indicators were used in 2013 by WASCO to illustrate the risks for the water supply systems:
- Drinking water supply outages (duration; frequency; geographical area)
- Drinking water system reliability (some water supply systems are plagued by problems due to old and inadequate infrastructure)
- Water quality complaints (not a major issue for WASCO, 95% meets standards)
- Drinking water compliance rate 100% (Ministry of health standards for potable water)
- The degree of turbidity in the water (high turbidity levels at water sources after heavy rains)
- Number of customer complaints (inadequate water supply & leaks)
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