Maryhelen Shuman-Groh
Several of the guys who work here live in Roseau. They told me that when the cruise ships come in, by mid-day, they have little or no water pressure. Additionally, rates for water just went up. One man’s bill went to over $100EC (~$40US). I am having difficulty finding recent figures on average income here – almost everything available is from 2001-2005 which means it does not reflect the recent world economic crisis. I suspect the water bill is a big chunk of income.
They also told me that all the bottled water sold on the island is imported. This make me extremely curious about the on-island water company and whether it is actually operating.
I also mentioned in an earlier post that fuel here is about $6.00US per gallon. Most of the workers here use minibus and few own vehicles. There seem to be an awful lot of cars on the island, though. That may be because I am so close to the capital. This weekend I will be in the far northwest and it will be interesting to see what happens there.
As for today: Another ministry FAIL. Appointment cancelled until tomorrow… AGAIN. So I had a walk around a different bit of town via the Botanical Gardens and to a major grocery store in the city. It was nice to have a few ‘crisps’ but I fully understand why no one serves them – only takes about 5 minutes for them to become soggy. Local tomatoes and cheese on fresh bread for lunch – best sandwich here to date. Another day of negotiating the minibuses successfully.
In my walks around town, which are an adventure in themselves as the roadways are very narrow, they drive on the ‘other’ side, sidewalks are hardly continuous and there are deep, open gullies for rainwater and apparently gray water, I got to wondering where the gray water comes from and where it goes. If it was from all homes, it seems the gullies would be constantly flowing and in some areas, like this one, it must run almost constantly given the build-up of green algae. I am only guessing at algae, not having tested it. If it is algae, that would also indicates nutrients in the water flow. Just thinking aloud here… thoughts?
