St. Kitts’ Water Problems Not Over

(ZIZ News) – A senior official at the Water Services Department said the recent downpour from Tropical Storm Erika was not enough to end the island’s water shortage.

Assistant Water Engineer, Charles Parris, said while he is grateful for the rain over the past 24 hours, it won’t offset St. Kitts’ extended dry period.

“All that rain translated into 1.4 inches total and that 1.4 inches didn’t do much for our wells and our water situation,” Parris said.

“The drought or extended dry period remains minus that 1.4 inches and as for well and ground water recharge, it didn’t do much for us,” he added.

Parris said due to environmental factors, one day of rain is not enough to make an impact.

“Of that 1.4 inches that fell, some would (be) lost to runoff, some would find its way down but it won’t find its way down today. Some would be evaporated and then some would go to plants etc. So the 1.4 inches of rain, if we could have that for an extended period of time, then it would help,” he said.

Parris is urging everyone to continue conserving water as the extended dry period is expected to carry on into October.