Making the most of the nation’s liquid assets
PROVIDING A VITAL RESOURCE, THE WATER AND SEWERAGE SECTOR NEEDS CAPITAL INVESTMENT TO COPE WITH GROWING DEMAND FOR ITS SERVICES, AND FOREIGN COMPANIES COULD PLAY A PART IN ITS FUTURE

RICHARD GREENE General Manager of Water and Sewerage Corp.

THE AVAILABILITY OF WATER is crucial not just for public health but also as part of the infrastructure on which economic development rests. "It is only natural that with growth you need infrastructural growth," says Richard Greene, General Manager of the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC). "Without a doubt, I see us continuing to play a role in that."

The corporation’s mission is to ensure and control the optimum development and use of water resources. It is responsible for providing water for domestic and other uses, drainage and disposal of sewerage and other effluent, and for extending the water and sewerage systems.
The WSC was created in 1976, a time when water was in such short supply on New Providence Island that it was only available for part of the day. "This caused the government to embark on what was regarded at the time as an interim water scheme whereby water was transported to New Providence by barges from the nearby island of Andros," says Mr. Greene. "What started out as a short-term scheme extended to what we realize today. Andros now provides approximately 50 percent of the supply for New Providence."

The other 50 percent is made up of ground water from New Providence together with two million gallons provided per day through so-called reverse osmosis–by which drinking water is produced from salt water. This is provided under contract with the WSC by the Waterfields company, a joint venture between Bacardi and Desalco of Bermuda, from their reverse osmosis plant in New Providence.
The WSC has been focusing a fair amount of its improvements on the Family Islands in line with the desire of the former prime minister, Hubert Ingraham, to see them gain a greater market share in the tourism sector. The corporation has embarked on a Family Island water supply improvement project with the Inter-American Development Bank for the islands of Abaco, South Eleuthera and Exuma.
Coupled with the production and use of potable water, there is also the need for sewerage collection, treatment and disposal in an environmentally friendly way. There is a growing demand for improving and expanding waste water operations.

LOOKING AHEAD A 10-year corporate plan will map out the WSC’s future

"Sewerage is a very expensive venture," says Mr. Greene. "Even in more developed countries you will find that, for the most part, municipalities find themselves subsidizing sewerage at the expense of their water tariff simply because the cost of collecting, treating and disposing of waste water is higher than collecting, treating and disposing of potable water."
He sees the area of sewerage as "a primary focus" for the corporation, and believes foreign investors could get involved. "Bearing in mind that the demands on central government are so broad, I would like to think that there will be more chances of sewerage works getting under way with private sector assistance or with partnerships–not necessarily Bahamian, but possibly from abroad, with investors seeing The Bahamas as a good place to get a return on their money.

"There is a good future for investment in the water and sewerage sector and there is going to be a considerable need for capital investment in terms of the building of a waste water, collection, pumping and treatment and disposal system, particularly here in New Providence, which is the most densely populated island."
The WSC is working with the Inter-American Development Bank on a corporate business plan for at least the next ten years. "We have made it known that we don’t need another study that will be placed on bookshelves to gather dust. It must be a good working report that can be put into immediate use," says Mr. Greene.
Privatization could be part of the WSC’s future, although Mr. Greene says it is unlikely to take place soon. "In terms of our readiness for privatization, the telephone company and the power company are very much ahead of us. We still have some painstaking growth that needs to be taken care of for us to be more marketable. I don’t think we are quite ready for it yet, but if we make full use of a good corporate plan we could become an attractive entity for privatization in the very near future."

Mr. Greene joined the corporation in 1978 and is due to retire this year. In addition to witnessing the WSC’s growth, he has been pleased to see it become virtually Bahamanized.
"We started out with almost total reliance on expatriates to help us manage the company. Over the years we have been able to replace them with trained Bahamians and I am proud to say that we have a good cadre of technical and non technical Bahamian managers," he says.