Minister of Water, Environment and Climate Change, Matthew Samuda, says the Government is now spending 10 times more on improving water infrastructure across the island than it did a decade ago.
But even that, some $15 billion per year, is not enough to ensure water security amid increasingly long dry spells brought on by climate change.
Minister Samuda says the amount needed as per a World Bank study is closer to $75 billion per year.
He says the projection is for the amount invested to increase to as much as $30 billion in as little as two years.
Matthew Samuda, Water Minister.
He was a guest on the OPM On Air segment of Nationwide’s Cliff Hughes Online on Tuesday.
Samuda’s comments come amid increasingly dry conditions affecting the eastern sections of the island.
In response, the ministry has imposed water prohibition notices for seven parishes, which restrict the use of the commodity supplied by the National Water Commission.
