On Monday May 4th, Miya Water, a world leader in water management efficiency, in partnership with the Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association (CWWA), organised a webinar to discuss how the Caribbean countries, and particularly the water industry, are weathering the challenges of COVID-19.
More than 140 people attended the online event, which was aimed at water supply and sanitation service operators.
During the webinar, Noam Komy, Chief Growth Office of Miya Water, spoke on efficiency as a key component in resiliency. He started on a positive note, reflecting on how throughout history pandemics have generated a huge change towards better water and sanitation in cities like London or Paris. Mr Komy observed that Caribbean utilities are generally stressed financially and operationally and struggle to supply quality service that is essential to combat pandemics. He remarked: “This is a time we can show to our governments, to our stakeholders, including our clients, how important a water system is”. Water utilities are one of the most resilient sectors to disasters, specifically pandemics, and he emphasised the importance of reliance on local staff, training and knowledge transfer. He also expressed hope that the experience with the pandemic will help move forward digitalization, technology and remote operations. He encouraged the reduction of NRW as a basis for efficiency. Proposed principles to modernising a water system are outsourcing the commercial department; private sector financing, and modernising the meter fleet.
