7 News Belize

Does Belize’s Water Supply Have Long Term Security?
posted (September 5, 2019)

The press also wanted to know about whether or not climate change and the growing Belizean population could end up exhausting the country’s apparently bountiful supply of water sometime in the future. 

The BWS representative said that the drought this year has had an impact on their production capabilities to supply to Belizean customers, who consumed billions of gallons of water last year. Here’s how he explained why:

Dave Pascasio - Operations Manager, BWS
"We have surface water treatment plants, namely, Belize City, Dangriga, and Belmopan. And those, in last year, the extraction volume, the demand on those sources was 2.6 billion gallons. And then, we have 28 well fields; that is some 2.2 billion gallons of water that we got from those wells, with the difference being from reverse osmosis plants, which is also well water, but saline well water."

Reporter
"With the drought, and an increasing dry season throughout the years, [and] in terms of availability of water for years to come, what are the risks that BWS is looking at, or the challenges?"

Dave Pascasio
"Well, the challenge for us will always be source protection. With the drought, we’re seeing this year that some of the wells, the yields are depleting. And so, we had to be drilling more wells, looking for other sources, and for surface water, we don’t control everything that happens on surface water. There are key stakeholders along the Belize River that also takes water off the Belize River. So, we have to work along with them."

Reporter
"Can we look at a situation where potable drinking water could become scarce for us, and we have to ration it as is done in other countries?"

Dave Pascasio
"Well, only time will tell. If you remember the water cycle, we’re currently in a drought. The drought before this was 2016, and if all the aquifers don’t get replenished to what it used to get replenished annually, then next year’s dry season, even though it could be shorter, there could be more adverse effects."

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