A press release issued on March 31st, 2010 by Belize Water Services Limited (BWS) spoke of the possibility of rationing the water supply on
San Pedro, Ambergris Caye: BWS hereby informs residents and visitors to San Pedro that, should the available supply continue to diminish, the company
will have no choice but to restrict water over the Easter Weekend. Easter is one of the biggest tourism weekends on Ambergris Caye.
On Tuesday, when the four day holiday was all over, hotels, restaurants, local residents and tourists could not believe that throughout the weekend,
the island had to experience a shortage of water caused because, according to the BWS release, BWS has not been receiving adequate supplies of water
from Consolidated Water Belize Ltd (CWBL), the private company that operates the Reverse Osmosis Water Treatment Plant on San Pedro, Ambergris Caye.
Althought the island have experienced a shortage of water over the weekend water rates increased by 12.1% on the same day that BWS issued their press release.
According to the Public Utilities Commission the three reasons for the increase are a deteriorating infrastructure, maintaining BWS’s viability and the reaching out to the small shareholders of a major utility company. As of the next billing period,
consumers should expect to see a jump in their monthly water bill. According to Director of Admin and Tariffs Leroy Almendarez, “It is not a 12.1% increase
on the dollar, it is basically based on what your consumption level is since it is applied across all bands.” The PUC says the measured increase comes after
a revised look at what the commission felt was the minimum investment capital needed by BWS to address those critical expansions and necessary maintenance
needed to ensure the effective and reliable distribution of water and sewerage services to its consumers. Director of Water and Waste, Eugene Cleland stated,
“You have fees like reconnection fee, transfer fee, water connection fees. Those fees never did change.”
Source: The Island Newspaper, Ambergris Caye, Belize , 8 April 2010
