Last night, we told you about the water emergency that residents of Caye Caulker had yesterday when the BWS water plant broke down - leaving the island without water for over a day! And, this at the hight of the tourism peak season!
And that's after customers all across the island were experiencing intermittent water outages since Christmas Eve.
And if the water outage wasn't enough, residents and visitors also had to cope with power outages. Belize Electricity Limited supplies the island with electricity through diesel generation, and since Boxing Day, 2 of their diesel generating units have gone down. Since then, the power company has had to ration power through load shedding.
Indeed, it's a perfect storm of failures for Caye Caulker, problems coming in by the pound, and seeming to go away only by the ounce.
This has caused frustration for visitors who are reporting mass cancellations because the utility failure has ruined their vacation.
The collective frustration of the community as a result of this loss in business has caused them to speak out publicly. They called a press conference today, and our news team traveled to the island to find out how bad the damage to their earnings is projected to be. Daniel Ortiz reports:
Like the other iconic tourism destinations in-country, the community of Caye Caulker depends heavily on the tourism high season, which is taking place right now.
Maria Vega - Chair, BTIA Caye Caulker
"This is our peak time, and all of our investments, planning, and efforts have been to have a good economy at this time of the year. This is the time that is a make-or-break time for this industry and this island."
Hotel owners and tour guides were prepared to receive a massive influx of visitors for the holidays. But instead, what they've been getting is a huge volume of complaints from their guests. For several days now, Caye Caulker has been suffering from intermittent power and water outages. Both BWS and BEL have been unable to meet the water and electricity needs of the community during this high season.
Carlos Macu - Representative, Chinatown Hotel
"When they come here, they expect to have their hot water - you know, the guests especially the Americans. They like hot water, and that's the first thing that they ask [for]. They said, 'I went to this hotel. We don't have water to flush, brush our teeth, and bathe. Bathing is the main thing for them. It's humid. We're in the tropics, and so, they always want to shower."
The residents of the island are particularly unhappy that the utility companies haven't been able to deliver continuous and uninterrupted water and electricity. They say that this is a chronic problem that both BEL and BWS are aware of.
Maria Vega - Chair, BTIA Caye Caulker
"It is more than this season. We have been experiencing shortages in the water. That means no water, low pressure, sometimes dirty water, for more than a year. And we've been patient as a community, working with the agency responsible. And every time that it's a very important, critical time for our economy, the failures are too great in terms of not enough water. This is also compounded with the matter of electricity supply. We have had problems over repeated Christmas [holidays], Easters, Lobster Fests have been total disasters. So, that's a big economic blow for the island. However, it is a worse aggravation for the visitors that come and expect that they've earned the right to relaxation."
Deon Green - Businessman/Resident, Caye Caulker
"WASA knew about it. Mr. Heredia knew about it. They all knew about it, and they didn't do anything about it during the slow season. Now that the tourist season is starting to pick up, the issue has resurfaced. Now we have a big problem."
Reporter
"Okay, so you're saying that the persons in charge have ample time to prepare."
Deon Greene
"[They] sure did."
The perspective of islanders is like that famous quote. They insist that utility companies failed to prepare, and now, the tourism stakeholders must prepare to lose revenue for a problem that they had no fault in creating.
Maria Vega - Chair, BTIA Caye Caulker
"One of our own members of the Board of Directors of the BTIA, they have had like immediately, 20 cancellations. And we're monitoring the online queries, and people are saying well, I had a trip planned for February. Is it going to be the same then? Then, I will change my mind. Even Belizeans who were planning to come and visit family here over this Christmas and New Year are saying, well, we were gonna bring in the New Year here, but it's best we go somewhere else."
Deon Greene
"I know one hotel that had lost 25 clients in one day."
Seleny Villanueva-Pott - Chairperson, Caye Caulker Village Council
"The hardest part is having to deal with the face-to-face tourists when you're trying to explain to them that the water will come back on, but they don't want to hear that."
Carlos Macu - Representative, Chinatown Hotel
"We have had guests canceled already, and it affects us because we have bad reviews now due to that."
BEL and BWS have since reported that they've been able to restore electricity and water supply to Caye Caulker - in the case of water - at low pressure. The residents say that the damage to the island's tourism industry cannot be undone by simply turning the light and water back on.
Seleny Villanueva-Pott - Chairperson, Caye Caulker Village Council
"I hope that is a reassurance of us having water throughout the weekend because we're heading - well it's New Year's Eve. But, the damage has been done. I think it's more damage control now. We've seen the cancellations. We' don't know what tonight will look like in terms of occupancy at the rooms and at the restaurants."
"We just won the Destination of the year. These stakeholders have so much money invested in infrastructure. We pay so many taxes. We pay hotel tax, GST, Social Security."
"With tourism, we fuel not only Caye Caulker, but we fuel the country of Belize, just like San Pedro and Placencia. And we expect that the infrastructure that we're given is able to upkeep our visitors. We call on GOB to come and put the monies where they belong. If we are not able to improve the infrastructure, we will feel the dent of it in the tourism industry."
"We demand that we are given what we deserve."
Reporter
"Is it wrong to reason that maybe Caye Caulker has grown rapidly, and outpace the utility companies?"
Seleny Villanueva-Pott
"It sounds like a good excuse to me, but if it really is an answer, I would say no. We pay for all of our utility services like everywhere in the country. Why is it then that we're left to perish in our most lucrative time of the year. It's unfair."
A group of island enterprises under the name Caye Caulker Business Association has written to the Public Utilites Commission asking for intervention. A press release from the Association says, quote, "The poor performance of both utility companies is an affront to the hard work of the Hicacquenos who have endeavored to carve out a niche in the overall business tourism product… The… Association...is demanding that the PUC immediately conduct a thorough investigation into the Caye Caulker situation..." End quote.
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