Villagers of Lucky Strike, Rock Stone Pond, Maskall, Santana, Corozalito, and Saint Ann's got a much needed upgrade to their water system today.
The communities on the Old Northern Highway hadn't seen any kind of improvements for over 3 decades. So, the Social Investment Fund, the Government of Belize and the Caribbean Development Bank got together to ensure that all these villages got that most precious resource which most of us take for granted.
The new system was inaugurated today, and the Area Representative shared the details with the press:
Hon. Edmond Castro - Area Rep. Belize Rural North
"It's actually 33 years since we had the first water system in Maskall, prior to that we have some community pumps so we have to pump water from and in the dry season the pump goes dry so we have to rely on the pond behind the village we could fetch water. In 1985, the village was half this size so the system has become obsolete. So now with this new system I think and I hope that it will last another 33 years. By that time I will be senior enough and a young person should be able to carry on beyond the 33 to 35 years. But I am very thankful for this system. It's a new model that we had put in place where we encompass all the villages with the exception of Boston and Bomba who will be coming on stream later on hopefully this year. We already received commitment for Boston and also for Bomba, but so far, we have Lucky Strike, Rockstone pond, Santana, Corozality, St. Ann's and Maskall on one system. So it's one water board that deals with all the villages along the old northern highway with the exception of those 2. I think this model that we are trying will work best for us and we will be able to do more things for our people and provide a better service to the residence in this part of the country."
Reporter
"Now, in terms of the cost and what it will cost the villagers in terms of payments to the water board. Would it be similar to what we pay in the city from BWS or similar water systems around the country?"
Hon. Edmond Castro - Area Rep. Belize Rural North
"I think it's better because I believed that it's about 15 dollars for flat rate. What is flat rate, how many gallons I'm not quite sure but most people up here used to pay 10 dollars and now its 15 dollars. You have your meter and over X amount of gallons then you pay a fraction of a cent per gallon or something like that. So, I think a system like this helps the community. If the community needs to expand the water system they will have enough money that they can expand the water system on their own, rather than relying on government as a responsibility to come and do it for them. They will be able to manage their own system, expand to other areas in the vicinity."
The new system costs almost a million dollars.
The Village of Bomba will soon join the system, and Boston Village will get its own upgrade through the BWS.
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