Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 19, 2021 (SKNIS): Tracking water usage especially in homes is an important water conservation technique as it helps homeowners to not only protect their homes from damages but also decrease wastage and lower utility bill.
“If you are not tracking your usage if you are not even opening your bill every month and realizing… last month I used 5000 gallons, this month I used twice that amount, or even one and a half times that amount and [asking] why did my usage go up or why did it go down, did I start a little backyard gardening, did I have a little sprinkler and it was just running for some time…and so if you are not tracking your usage then we have a serious problem,” said Cromwell Williams, Hydrogeologist and Acting Water Engineer, on the March 17 edition of ‘Working for You.’
Mr. Williams added that “it might be good usage or not, it might be that your toilet flaps” or developed a problem after five to ten years “because toilets especially” develop problems. “It might happen this month and not the next” so it is extremely important to always track water usage.
The Acting Water Engineer said that persons have a personal responsibility to protect the natural resource.
“The number one threat to the sustainability of our water resources in St. Kitts is persons who are not tracking their usage of water and by extension persons who are not honouring their obligations to the Water Services Department by paying for the service that is provided,” he said. “You are not paying for the water… but there are over 100 employees who work as a team to provide a service to capture that water, treat it and channel it into your homes. I will say when the month-end comes up the very first bill that you should pay is your water bill.”
Mr. Williams touched briefly on persons who are using COVID-19 as an excuse to not pay bills or track their water usage and noted that persons need to wake up and treat water as a precious resource.
“To the general public, I am understanding and sympathetic for persons who are affected by the COVID -19 [Pandemic] but if this is going to be our attitude towards water, that we are not going to track our usage then we are going to have a water crisis in St. Kitts,” said the acting water engineer. “If persons do not wake up and start realizing that every month you are supposed to get a water bill, you are supposed to open it, see how much water you are using – you are supposed to have an idea as to how much you should be using – and if the reading from the meter says that you are using much more than what you really should be using then corrective actions need to be taken. Otherwise, we are going to have a water crisis in St. Kitts,” he said.
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ACTING WATER ENGINEER IN ST. KITTS ENCOURAGES CONSUMERS TO TRACK WATER USAGE
