Solid Waste Manager at the Central Water and Sewerage Authority (CWSA) Mr. Winsbert Quow, joined WEFM’s Issues at Hand program on Sunday to discuss the company’s state of readiness this hurricane season, which is expected to be above normal.
“In terms of our readiness; over the years what we have done, we have an emergency management committee that meets pretty regularly to prepare for adverse events, and as you would appreciate, it’s not just hurricanes now, we have drought, and even covid.”
Mr. Quow said that all of the CWSA’s departments are represented at these meetings. He says outside of the hurricane season these meetings take place every two months, but once the hurricane season starts the frequency of those meetings will increase to every month. He goes on to say that ahead of adverse events meetings will be called to ascertain their state of readiness.
“We meet to discuss our state of readiness to just ensure that we have all the equipment that we need, supplies, parts that our system needs are in the best shape” he said.
The CWSA’s Solid Waste Manager also said that the company’s preparations for the hurricane season had been affected supply chain shortages brought on by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.
“One of the things that are now affecting us, in terms of our readiness is the supply chain shortage that has been caused by the war in Ukraine. So we had to be very proactive in making sure that we order our supplies early, whether it’s pipes, fittings, parts, equipment—and store them, because of the time it now takes to get supplies, and also the cost of supplies is going up so the CWSA has to make some adjustments and be more proactive in making sure that we procure the necessary parts and equipment that we need to get our systems up and running again in the event of an adverse event” he said.
