Island Water Technologies (PEI, Canada) has commenced work with the Canaries Community Improvement Foundation (Canaries, St. Lucia) in characterizing their existing wastewater infrastructure and suggesting strategies for future infrastructure development.
Town of Canaries, St. Lucia
The scope of the project involves working with community representatives, to determine the feasibility of developing various sustainable wastewater treatment solutions for the village of Canaries, St. Lucia. A primary focus will be for research on delivering solutions for the area of the town nearest the beach. Like many small island communities in the Caribbean, the small fishing village of Canaries, on the West coast of St Lucia suffers from the dire need for the development of a community level sewage system, it is however, much worse off than many communities on the island as almost 50% of the homes are without toilets, this is a far higher percentage than the national average. As a result the ecosystems surrounding the village are being degraded through the impacts of human waste being indiscriminately discarded.
Jack Amler (IWT, Second from left) with members of CCIF and WWWS in Canaries, St. Lucia
For this project IWT has partnered with World Water and Wastewater Solutions that have provided key insights into existing wastewater infrastructure in St. Lucia and advised as to past successful technology solutions.
The work in Canaries is funded through the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Small Grant Program and is part of a more holistic Ridge to Reef project. This larger ridge to reef rehabilitation project is managed by a local community group – The Canaries Community Improvement Foundation (CCIF), that seeks to reduce the impacts of extreme weather events on the watershed through slope stabilisation efforts, the development of a sustainable sewage treatment strategy that can be undertaken in stages over time as funds become available, and last but not least, the development of a community run coral nursery and fish sanctuary, from which revenues can be derived for the village through tourism activities such as snorkelling on the coral nursery.
Mr. James Crockett (Canaries Community Improvement Foundation Consultant) commented that
“Improvements in water quality are a central and essential objective of this project. As such, the CCIF is extremely pleased to be working with IWT, whose expertise in the field of waste water solutions is perfectly suited to the unique situation of Canaries. The IWT team’s passion and commitment to helping Canaries find a solution for its wastewater and sewage issues is obvious and hugely appreciated. We look forward to continuing to build on our relationship and see the fruits of our combined labours in due course.”
Dr. Patrick Kiely (CEO, Island Water Technologies) noted
“We see huge potential in the larger Ridge to Reef project and envision this as being a stepping stone that will stimulate future economic development in the region. We are very excited to partner with the Canaries Community Improvement Foundation to identify environmentally and economically sustainable solutions for treating wastewater. We are making Canaries a long-term priority for our company and will look to identify it as a case study of sustainable development for future projects in the Caribbean region”
