The
Development Planning Unit
Government of the British Virgin Islands

WATER & SEWERAGE

INTRODUCTION

The provision of adequate water supply is one of the basic prerequisites for improving the quality of life, as well as being one of the important inputs for productive activities, such as agriculture, industry, construction, etc. In the British Virgin Islands, the management of water supply is entrusted to the Water and Sewerage Department. The Water and Sewerage Department was officially established, as a distinct entity of the Ministry of Communication and Works in, 1980, the same year the BVI Electricity Corporation came into existence under legislation enacted in 1978. Before that, the water supply was operating on regulation on Water Supply Ordinance Cap 130 of 1959. In 1980, the Water and Sewerage Department, through its head, the Chief Engineer, assumed direct responsibility for:

1. A fairly extensive pipe water supply system within Road Town area based on two ground water schemes i.e. valley 10 wells to Long Bush reservoir and valley 11 and 12 wells in Fort Hill.
   
2. A basic sewerage scheme serving part of Road Town with untreated effluent discharged in Road Harbour.
   
3. The on-going operation, monitoring and maintenance of scattered individual public wells/standpipes elsewhere on Tortola, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke and the maintenance of a number of public rainwater catchments/standpipes at high elevations along the central ridge of Tortola.

BACKGROUND

The historical background of water supply in BVI started as far back as in the 18th century, whereby roof areas within the territory were guttered to direct rain-water into cisterns near or under the buildings. At that time, the cisterns were commonly constructed of stone and mortar in rectangular shape with domed roof and walls up to two feet thick. Currently, government's land-development guidelines and building regulations establish a requirement for 10 imperial gallons of cistern storage for each square foot of roof catchment. Throughout the BVI, it is now common practice for cisterns to be equipped with small electricity driven pumps feeding varying levels of internal domestic plumbing. While rain-water harvesting has traditionally provided the people of the BVI with a supply of water, large diameter relatively shallow wells, dug into the underlying ground-water aquifer, have been increasingly used to supplement the rain-water resources.

The initial major piped public water supply in the BVI was developed for the capital, Road Town, using major paved rain-water catchment areas on the hill slopes above McNamara and Long Bush with associated masonry/concrete storage reservoirs at approximate elevations of 150 ft above man sea-level and 280 ft respectively. Basic distribution piping from the reservoirs served sections of the town.

In 1991, census indicated that 30% of 4,278 households on Tortola had public water supply, while 67% are categorised as having a private supply, with 3/4 of the later category having it piped into their dwelling. On Virgin Gorda, some 33 households out of 866 households indicated a public source of water, the remainder having supplies with 2/3 of these private supplies reportedly piped into their dwelling see Table 2.1. Similarly with respect to sewage, data from 1991 census indicated that, on Tortola, out of reporting total of 4268 households, some 21% were linked to sewer mainly in Road Town, 70% had septic tanks, 7% had pit-latrines and 2% were categorised as other or none. On Virgin Gorda, the 1991 responses of some 866 households showed 2% linked to sewer, 73% with septic tanks, 24% with-pit latrines and 10% other or none.

Table 2.1: Distribution of Household by Method of Water Supply

Source: BVI , 1991 Population and Housing Census, Volume II

The Current Water Supply Situation

About 70% of water demand is being supplied by Water and Sewerage Department. Thirty percent (30%) of the water is from the private cisterns. The total daily demand of water for Tortola and Virgin Gorda stood at 700,000 gallons per day. Since 1990, desalinated water has become the main source of the public supply. Most of the water used by this system is pumped from the sea, with a small portion being pumped from one well in Road Town area. In order to facilitate the supply of public water, five reverse osmosis plants were constructed, three in Tortola, and two in Virgin Gorda. Piped water is available along the southern coast from Beef Island in the east throughout Road Town and as far as west as Sea Cows Bay. A separate system serves West End northwards to Carrot Bay. Work is currently being carried out in Cane Garden Bay and in other areas such as Bell Vue and Jost Van Dyke. Virgin Gorda has the most complete public-water supply system with two separate systems being developed, one to serve the North Sound area and the other the Valley area. These two systems combined are able to produce 175,000 gallons of desalinated water per day. However, plans are to increase this supply to 300,000 gallons per day, in the near future.

In Tortola, the Baugher's Bay plant, which is supplemented by a smaller plant on the BVI High School campus, serves from Beef Island to Pockwood Pond. These two plants produce 800,000 gallons per day, while the western section of Tortola is served by Capoons Bay plant which produces 125,000 gallons daily. West End, Frenchman's Cay and Capoons Bay are also connected to a main distribution system. The area connected to public water supply most recently were Beef Island and Sea Cows Bay. These connections were made in 1993. A small percentage of water is still drawn from wells. This water also passes through the desalination system before it is distributed.

There are a total of five desalination plants which are privately owned, three are in Tortola and two in Virgin Gorda. Water and Sewerage Department pays these plants for processing the water. About 75% of the recurrent budget is spent on paying the owners of these plants. Generally, the desalination process is very expensive; however, there is no alternative since the ground-water is not enough even to supply 1/5 of the total water demand. In the near future, the underground water is going to be phased out because is not economical; therefore, the territory will depend on desalinated water only.

There are a number of areas in Tortola that are not connected to the water distribution system because of topography. These areas are above 1000 ft above the sea level, and depend on cisterns for their daily water supply. In Anegada, there is no public-water supply; residents rely on cistern water. There are, however, a number of slobs and wells which are used as a source of water supply on the island. In future, if any additional development is to take place, the provision of desalination facility will be necessary. Table 2.2 shows reservoirs which distribute water to hillside areas with the help of gravity.

Table 2.2: Name of Water Reservoirs (Tortola and Virgin Gorda)

                                                                                                          Source: Water & Sewerage Department

By 1994, there were water connections totaling 3,414 made up of:

• Domestic water connections 2969
  
• Commercial water connections 379
  
• Government water connections 66

Current Sewerage Situation

In the BVI, public sewerage was implemented for the first time in the mid 1970s. The system was built to serve Wickham's Cay in Road Town. Over the years, the system was expanded to other areas of Road Town. More recently, the Purcell and Baugher's Bay areas have been added to sewerage disposal network. Connection to the system is not mandatory, and only 400 households use the system. No treatment of the effluent is undertaken except for chlorination and the outfall is monitored by the Conservation and Fisheries Department for adverse effects on the surroundings.

It is estimated that there are over 400 connections to the piped water-borne sewerage system substantially covering those sections of Road Town from Fort Burt Point through Mc Namara, Long Bush and Lower Estate, Pasea, Free Bottom and Baugher's Bay below the 100ft contour. The Road Town system comprises of a series of trunk collectors sewers along the coast of the above area draining street sewers extending into the interland with enroute pumping stations on the trunk collectors forming a system of sewage relifts ultimately delivering untreated sewage to a 600ft long, 8 inches diameter outfall at Slaney Point.

An approximate analysis of current connections undertaken by Water and Sewerage Department showed connection of some 183 houses, 51 apartments and 116 commercial buildings. Elsewhere throughout the territory, individual households and commercial premises are predominantly found with septic tanks systems, some with soak-away pits but with substantial numbers discharging effluent directly to the bush or to ghuts.

There remains, however, very significant numbers of properties along the coast with no facilities other than waste piping directly discharging at the shoreline, others elsewhere with pit latrines or cesspools and a few premises still with no facilities at all. There are over 10 small privately owned and operated package treatment plants within the territory with five reported on each of Tortola and Virgin Gorda primarily installed by large scale commercial organizations of the tourism sector.

The major problems with the current sewage disposal system are its limitation to the Road Town area, the lack of treatment of the effluent and lack of use of the facility in areas where it is provided for example Purcell, Lower Estate. At present there are a number of areas where there are problems with reference to sewage disposal, there are:

1. East End where there are problems with respect to water pollution from boats as well as subsurface conditions which do not permit septic tanks and soak-away pits to function efficiently.
   
2. Spanish Town in Virgin Gorda where there is pollution in the harbour largely created by boats discharging into an enclosed harbour.
   
3. Cane Garden Bay where it was found that the acceptable limits for fecal coliform bacteria were exceeded.

A problem that occurs in various locations throughout the territory is the illegal change of intensity of use for residential buildings without the appropriate adjustments in the size of septic tanks. There are no fixed standards for the design of septic tanks and adequate legislation and systems for the monitoring and control of the development of septic tanks are not in place.


WATER AND SEWERAGE CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT 

Water supply to the community is a basic prerequisite for improving the economic social development of the territory. Therefore, water can be regarded as an important input for productive activities such as agriculture, industry, transport, construction, etc. Water is equally important for non-productive activities such as drinking, washing, etc.

In recent years, the BVI has experienced expanding economic activities in the territory. The tourism, financial services, construction, and real estate subsectors represent a major growth of the economy. With such economic growth, water supply is very crucial to service the entire population and all other activities. The government of the BVI has recognised the importance of water supply to support the expanding economic activities especially in the tourism accommodation infrastructure, construction activities. A number of water and sewerage projects have been initiated by the government to support other economic activities.

Contribution To GDP

The national accounts of 1992 shows that Water and Sewerage sector contributed US$5,971,903 to GDP at constant prices. This is equivalent to 1.73% total GDP. The total GDP was US$344,612,096 (See Table 2.3 below). By comparing the national accounts of the past years and 1992 national accounts, you will note sharp decline of the percentage contribution to GDP. For example by comparing 1987, 1989, and 1992, there is a drop from 4.3% to 1.73% in 1992.

Table 2.3 - GDP Contribution by Industry 1992

                                                              Source: DPU


The drop of percentage contribution is attributed by better performance of other sectors like wholesale/retail trade which contributed 32.92% followed by Real Estate 14.90% followed by Financial Intermediation 13.13% and Hotel and Restaurant contributed 11.80%. The Water and Sewerage subsector contribution of 1.73% should not be seen as very small this is because of its multiplier effects which has contributed to other sectors to do much better, as we have seen in the introductory part that water is very vital element/input to all productive activities in the society. So long as the National Gross Domestic Product will continue to rise, the contribution of water and sewerage subsector will continue to be important to such a growth. For more information see Table 2.4 which shows the percentage contribution of each sector to GDP at constant prices for the years, 1987, 1989 and 1992.

Table 2.4: Percentage Contribution to GDP at Constant Prices (1987-1989-1992)

                              * Brackets indicate the position
                                 Source: DPU


Employment And Manpower

From the 1994 employment and earnings statistics (see Table 2.5) below, the water sector employed 15 employees with total wage bills of US$258,837. This number represents 0.10% of total workforce in the territory. The total number of employees in the territory stood at 11,366 with total wage bill of US$118,638.953. The 1994 water supply employees represent an increase of 50% from the 1992 statistics which was 10 employees only. This figure represents workers in private water supply; it does not include the workers of Water and Sewerage Department. The employees of this department are included in the public administration employees because the department falls under the government supervision.

The department of Water and Sewerage by 1994 had a total of 50 employees divided as follows: 2 employees: Chief Engineer Office; 11 Accounting Division, 3 Administration and Public Relations Division, 6 Planning and Development Division and 28 employees Operations and Maintenance Division. Out of 50 employees, only 11 are established staff; the rest are non-established staff. The department is lacking the professional trained staff especially the Accounting Department which needs more experienced and professional staff because of its obligation of collecting revenue from the public. Another problem facing the department as far as manpower is concerned is lack of indigenous staff, out of 11 established staff over 50% is foreigners. Generally, the water supply and sewerage sector employees a total of 65 employees i.e. 50 employees from the Water and Sewerage department and 15 from the private water supply.

Table 2.5: Number of employees by sector, 1994 compared with 1992 figures

* includes self-employed farmers and fishermen
Source: DPU


Capital Investment

Due to the importance of this sector to economical and social development, the government for the past years has been investing in a number of projects in order to increase the quantity and quality of water supply and rehabilitation of sewerage system in Road Town. Among the big projects which have been implemented five years ago i.e. 1990-1994, are:

1. Computerization of water and sewerage US$ 15,210.00
   
2. Rehabilitation of well in Anegada 7,710.00
   
3. Other minor project rehabilitation /maintenance 735,981.00 
   
4. Relocation pumping station 777,660.00
   
5. Sewerage extensions/maintenance 133,113.00
   
6. Extension of distribution systems 243,293.00
   
7. Reservoirs 100,429.00

The Table below shows different projects which were implemented at different years and the cost of each project.

Table 2.6: Capital Investment: Water & Sewerage Dept. 1990-1994

                                  Source: 

From the Table above, one will note that there has been an increase in water supply and sewerage investment by the government. In 1990, for example, the investment was US$36,277.00, in 1991, US$385,451.00, in 1992, US$182,51.00, in 1993, US$402,7778 and in 1994, US$542,662. It is clear that the investment trend has always been positive, the government should continue like this in order to cope with the economic growth of the territory.

Apart from the government investments, the number of private companies, who owned the five desalination plants, have invested a lot of capital to expand their plants at different time during this period.

Recurrent Budget

The recurrent fund is provided by the government of the BVI to meet the daily activities of the department. This includes salaries and wages, plants and vehicles maintenance and to pay the processing fees to desalination companies. Table 7 below shows the amount of money the department received from the government from 1991 to 1995.

Table 2.7 Approved Recurrent Budget: Water 7 Sewerage Dept. 1991-1995

                                                                        Source: Budget Books

By looking at the statistics, you will note that the amount of money has been increasing from US$3,273,100 to $5,195,700 in 1995. Actually, the department activities has been increasing comparing with the money which is approved by the government. In most case, the department have to apply for supplementary fund at least each year in order to meet its obligations. This problem can be solved may be by allowing the department to operate as a corporation or authority like BVI Electricity Corporation. In this case, the department will be profit oriented and will sell the services at profit so as to meet its daily obligation without any grant from the government.


Revenue Generation

The amount of money that the department charges the customers are not economical, normally, it is supposed to be subsidised by the government. Furthermore, the revenue collection capacity is not good at all. This is mainly due to lack of qualified personnel in the Accounting Division. More than half of the revenue which is suppose to be collected from water users is not collected because of this and partly because there is no regulation which bind the water users to pay the amount at the required time

Table 2.8 - Comparison between Revenue earned and the recurrent expenditure - 1991-1995

                                                                                                 Source: Budget Books

From Table 2.8, you will note that there is a big gap between revenues collected and the recurrent expenditure. The government should allow the water and sewerage sector to finance itself by allowing the sector to become a company or corporation like the BVI Electricity Corporation. This will reduce the government burden of providing grant every year.

WATER RESOURCES POTENTIALS

The water resources of the BVI have been reviewed and investigated by different organizations/institutions and come up with the following observations:

1. No perennial surface streams
   
2. On the metamorphosed pyroclastic and granite rocks of the main southern island grouping (i.e. Tortola, Virgin Gorda and Jost Van Dyke, being the primary islands of immediate interest), limited ground water resources of variable "quality" are found, generally confined to the alluvial deposits of valleys and coastal strips.
   
3. On the geological unusual island of Anegada, fresh water is found within the reef limestone and overlying sand comprising the island.

From the above observations on water resource potentials, we can summarize them as follows:

1. That there is only limited potential for potable ground water exploitation on the islands of Tortola and Virgin Gorda.
   
2. As far as the exploitation is concerned, in Road Town, ground water aquifers as a source of brackish feed water to BVI High School desalination plant is economically sound and abstraction of water of quality adequate for this purpose may be reasonably anticipated as maintenance at a level consistent with desalted product water of some 150,000 igpd provided that the aquifers are adequately protected against future contamination.
   
3. An integrated detailed water level, quality and abstraction monitoring programme should be maintained for the Road Town aquifer to provide a continuous stream of background data for further evaluation at an appropriate future in conjunction with rainfall data.
   
4. Regular routine raw water quality monitoring of pollution indicators should be a prime element of the programme, but care must be taken at all times to ensure accurate regular and continuous data such as to enable proper evaluation. 
   
5. The available resources of potable water utilised by residents of Jost Van Dyke and Anegada (rain water and ground water) appear adequate for current needs. On Jost Van Dyke increasing future demands for potable water will require more definitive investigation of quantity and quality and ground water may represent a cost beneficial resource for brackish water reserve osmosis desalination in future. In Anegada, it is believed that substantial reserves of fresh water are available in the lens configuration, capable of controlled abstraction by appropriate shallow harvesting techniques to met all immediately foreseeable needs of the resident population and at least a limited future commercial development.

PROBLEMS FACING THE WATER AND SEWERAGE SECTOR

There are several problems facing the sector which can solved by the government and other private institutions which are directly dealing with this sector. The major problems are:

1. There is no government policies on water and sewerage. This has contributed a negative performance because there is no policy guidance and direction when implementing different programmes. The government should formulate water and sewerage policies to guide the sector for future development.
   
2. Lack of enough fund to run the daily operations of the department. In most cases capital and recurrent expenditure are exhausted before the end of the financial year. This has contributed to a lot of problems e.g. project implementation take longer time to be completed and little is done on repair and maintenance on plants and other equipment. This sector is very crucial to the economy of the territory if not well attended, it can cause a negative effect on the total economy, therefore the sector should always be fully founded.
   
3. The department is lacking financial viability. The department depends entirely on government funds and revenue generation or collection is not satisfactory there is laxity in collection. Self financing and accountability is essential for the water and sewerage. Therefore, the present water sewerage charge rates need to be increased to reduce the present subsidy by the government. Also, the department should be provided enacted powers as the Electricity Corporation possesses for debt recovery, otherwise the department will continue to suffer financial losses. This particularly applies to the power to disconnect water supplies to these consumers who choose not to pay for services.
   
4. The Water and Sewerage has no autonomy in performing its obligations, it has to consult parent Ministry all the time. The institutional reform is necessary to enable the water and sewerage to achieve its objectives by raising the status of the department to a corporation or authority responsible for planning and monitoring and enforcement of performance of activities and operations.
   
5. Lack of registration relating to sewerage treatment and disposal. This has the effect of permitting contamination of the aquifers used for water supply. This results from inadequate or improperly designed sewerage disposal system. The government should act immediately and work on legislation or regulation regarding sewerage disposal.
   
6. Lack of trained manpower. As we have indicated before the department is lacking professional staff, out of 50 employees, only 11 are professionals. The most affected division is Accounting which has no professional at all The authority should embark on training programme especially in the area of accounting and engineering.
   
7. Lack of data bank. Most of the data available is not organised and some data is not available. Because data base is important for future planning, the department should employ one statistician to help in data collection and analysis.
   
8. Unable to account for the quantity of water loss in the system. Loss of water due to leakage or illegal connections resulting in loss of revenue to the Department. The Department is currently working on a Leak Detection Program, which, when completed should greatly improve the situation.
   
9. Illegal sewage connections. Illegal sewage connections also contribute to a loss in revenue. The Department is currently working on a system to identify illegal connections and to correct this problem.

WATER AND SEWERAGE POLICIES AND STRATEGIES

The government of the BVI has no policies regarding the Water and Sewerage. These policies are very important guide for future development of water and sewerage. Because of this, the government should formulate sectoral policy objectives which will aim at the following:

1. To provide adequate, clean and safe water to the population for health improvement and socio-economic development;
   
2. To provide sewerage system to centres where it is possible to do so;
   
3. To improve efficiency in the development and management of water supplies and sewerage; 
   
4. To ensure that the development of the sector is environmentally, socially and financially sustainable.

Policies

To ensure the above objectives are realized, the following policies have to be articulated:

1. Greater emphasis should be on maintenance and rehabilitation of the existing water and sewerage facilities.
   
2. There should be a promotion use of appropriate technologies regarding water supply and sewerage.
   
3. Private sector participation or privatization should be encouraged.
   
4. Develop human resources including capacity building in this sector.
   
5. Development of water sources for all centres in this territory.
   
6. Improve efficiency in water and sewerage sector.
   
7. Improve the environmental sustainability of water supplies and sewerage.

Strategies

In order to achieve the above policies, the following strategies should be implemented by the authority concerned:

1. Greater emphasis on maintenance and rehabilitation of the existing water and sewerage facility. This will involve:

1. Priority to rehabilitation, operation and maintenance of facilities in resource allocation;
   
2. Purchase of spare parts and equipment for repair; and
   
3. Use of simple technology for rehabilitation of facilities.

2. In order to promote use of appropriate technology, the sector will:

1. Use least cost technology in its operation. However, areas where this choice is not feasible, high technologies will continue to be used;
   
2. Emphasis on local manufacture of standardized and sustainable equipment if available; and
   
3. Promote wide use of other technologies such as rain harvesting and solar and wind power as a source of pumping water from the ground.

3. Private sector participation or privatization should be encouraged. Then the sector will:

1. Undertake studies involving individuals and on privatization of some of the sector activities particularly the management of water supplies; and
   
2. Involve the private sector in the importation of water chemicals and other equipment.

4. Development of human resources including capacity building will be achieved through:\

1. Assessing the manpower requirement and reviewing the existing training programmes including in-service training for staff.
   
2. Strengthening capacities at all levels by training, adequate financing, increase of incentives and availability of working equipment.

5. Development of water sources for all centres in the territory. This would involve the:

1. Continuation of studies on potential water sources;
   
2. Establishment of a water resources data base for use in project identification, control and monitoring of water use. 

6. Improving efficiency in the sector will involve:

1. Establishing an efficient and effective tariff billing and revenue collection system;
   
2. Strengthening of water and sewerage sector to improve their managerial capacity;
   
3. Enforcement of water and sewerage regulations and laws.

7. In improving the environmental sustainability of water supplies and sewerage, the strategies to be used will include:

1. Sensitizing the people on the importance of protecting, guarding and managing water sources;
   
2. The water and sewerage department will continue issuing appropriate water rights, sewerage connection permits and monitoring the use of water from those sources; and
   
3. Make legislation relating to sewerage treatment and disposal.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES

To cope with the socio-economic development of BVI, the Water and Sewerage sector should have a medium and long-term plan whereby different projects or programmes will be implemented. The projects should cover water and sewerage infrastructure, research and training. The following are tentative future projects/programmes; the details and costs will be worked out later by the Water and Sewerage committee. 

Water Projects

1. Water supply to upper areas over 3000ft above sea level. Right now, Water and Sewerage department does not supply water to these areas; they just depend on private cisterns. The project will involve the construction of distribution lines and tanks or reservoirs and pumping stations.
   
2. Water supply to other islands which is not covered by the Water and Sewerage Department e.g. Anegada, Peter Island, Jost Van Dyke.
   
3. BVI Electricity Corporation will produce water which will be sold to Water and Sewerage department. This water will be produced from water generated from waste heat arising from electricity production. The department will have to construct infrastructure such as tanks and distribution lines.
   
4. Construction of more water tanks or reservoirs; the present ones can hold water for two days. For security purpose, there must be additional facilities to last a bit longer. 

Sewerage Projects

1. Sewerage system is concentrated mainly in Road Town. The future plans are to move to other areas where there is a big concentration of the population. These areas are East End, Cane Garden Bay, and Virgin Gorda.
   
2. Purchase of modern equipment: By now, most of the equipment are not in order and they need to be replaced by new ones.
   
3. Purchase of trucks: Trucks will be purchased to serve people with septic tanks especially people on the upper areas. The department will need about two or three trucks.
   
4. Treatment plant: It is very important that the treatment plant is constructed to avoid environmental pollution.
   

Research And Study Programme

More research should be done on different areas for the future development of the sector. Such a study or research will require financial support from the government or from international donors. Areas to be covered by the research study will include:

1. Ground water study;
   
2. Sea water main viability - the study should identify and quantify the potential viability of sea water main supply;
   
3. Recycling/recharge viability study: The study should explore the technical and financial viability of treating sewerage and recycling to recharge of aquifers including volume of water available, sewerage salinity, microbiological contamination, etc.
   
4. Research on training needs.

Training Programme

The importance of training and staff skill development is very crucial for future development of the sector. Training is important to improve skill levels for department efficiency. In this case, training will be carried on job training and on institutional training at different learning institution in the Caribbean and outside the Caribbean. Training plans should be carried to fill all the post with qualified personnel.


SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

The provision of adequate water supplies and other related services in the basic prerequisites for improving quality of life as well as basic input for economic and social growth of the territory. Because of this importance, the Water and Sewerage sub-sector needs a complete institutional status reform in order to achieve its objectives. The changes should mainly focus on the following:

1. Tariff and Financial reform: Self-financing and accountability is essential in order for Water and Sewerage sector to survive. If the present situation continues, the Water and Sewerage Department's operational costs will increase until it becomes a burden on the government's budget.
   
2. Legislation reform: Appropriate legislative reform is equally important for the survival of the sector. Water and Sewerage sector should be given power to protect ground water aquifers from contamination and power to be able to enforce revenue recovery from beneficiaries of water and sewerage services. This particularly applies to the power to disconnect water supply to those consumers who choose not to pay sewerage charges.
   
3. Institutional reform: The current institutional arrangement does not ensure full financial accountability. Services should be delivered in the most cost efficient manner. The role of private sector should be encouraged to take part in such an undertaking. Financial control restructure is essential.
   
4. Public Health: Public health is very important and it should be taken into consideration. Monitoring and regulate high quantity of potable water and sewerage treatment services should be the priority to avoid contamination.
   
5. Conservation measures: The real costs of potable water are extremely high due to both desalination costs and capital cost of private cistern rain water. This means that the cost of living in the territory is affected and hence the cost of services which support the economy. Conservation measures include replacing high costs water with lost cost water options such as recycling sea water for non-potable use, etc. Without this, there will be continued financial loss to the people in terms of water subsidy or a higher water rate than would otherwise be needed.

All in all, water supply and sewerage services will continue to be important elements in social and economic development of BVI. Therefore, such services should be delivered to the community in a required manner by taking into consideration water and sewerage policies earmarked in this paper.

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