Posted by 
Ivor Stevenson
The newly elected Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Lands, Housing, Settlements and Water Resource Management Ivor Stevenson is calling for more of Dominica’s water to be exported to the international market.
In 2009, Sisserou Water Inc. was granted a license to export 300 billions gallons of water from the Clyde River at Melville Hall per annum.
Stevenson says measures should be implemented to ensure that further economic benefits could be gained from Dominica’s vast water supply.
“It would be a good opportunity to work towards building on Dominica’s water resource and ensuring that we have the right companies that will be able to come into Dominica, invest and export water as a resource. We have boasted Dominica of having a very great wealth of water and I think we should see how we can work with other investors and interested persons to export Dominica water,” he said.
1. Rainfall is a natural resource. It costs nothing to produce and falls freely onto everybody’s land. Why should individuals or companies, local or foreign be allowed to profit from the sale of Dominican water? If water is sold to other countries, then Dominica – the Government of Dominica – should be the only entity permitted to collect revenue from its sale, for the benefit of the island and all its inhabitants. I would urge our recently re-elected government to pass legislation to this effect.
2. Has an environmental impact assessment been conducted? The removal of 37bn gallons (approx 16% of Dominica’s annual run-off) or more annually has to have an effect on ecosystems which have evolved in these conditions, whether it be the farmland or flora and fauna downstream from collection point or the marine habitat offshore. Removal of all this fresh cool water might even affect the system of ocean currents, thus the weather patterns. We often seem too eager these days to interfere with the very environment that sustains us. The motivation? What else – profit and greed!