The population served by Saint Lucia’s Water and Sewerage Company Inc (WASCO) is to benefit from a USD749,619 Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) investment aimed at improving the reliability, resilience, and sustainability of the country’s water supply and sewerage services.

Technical assistance is being provided to develop a climate-resilient water supply and wastewater masterplan and improve WASCO’s capacity to assess climate risk and plan for future climate-resilient investments in the sector.

This will ensure that the company can deliver safe drinking water and wastewater management services efficiently and sustainably. The service improvement will benefit WASCO’s current customers and help accommodate its steadily increasing new customer base.

CDB Division Chief, Environmental Sustainability, Ms. Valerie Isaac, said the technical assistance will empower WASCO to address the impacts of climate change on its operations and strengthen its capacity to deal with climate change-related issues.

“WASCO will be able to assess climate risks, and identify, prioritise, and execute suitable programmes and projects that enhance the resilience of water supply and sewerage services, and the masterplan will provide key stakeholders with comprehensive guidance for prioritised investments.,” Ms. Isaac said.

She added that women will be targeted for training and capacity building, as they are critical to the sustainability of water and sanitation improvement initiatives.

“This intervention will have a significant positive impact on the women and rural population groups and ultimately improve the lives and well-being of Saint Lucia's residents and visitors,” Ms. Isaac said.

The project is being executed under the CDB’s Caribbean Action for Resilience Enhancement (CARE) Programme, which is funded by the European Union through the 11^th European Development Fund’s (EDF) Intra-African Caribbean Pacific – European Union- (ACP-EU) Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Programme.

CARE is a five-year, €14 million initiative to support disaster risk management and climate resilience building efforts in CDB’s 19 Borrowing Member Countries. The Programme provides grant financing to support initiatives aimed at improving governance on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. Financing is also used for strengthening evidence-based and gender-sensitive decision-making and financial response to the effects of climate change and natural hazards and enhancing community infrastructure and livelihood resilience to climate change and natural hazards.