GENDER, WATER AND COMMUNITY IN TRINIDAD, WEST INDIES

As part of its initiative in gender, science, and technology, and following its successful documentary, "Living with the Nariva Swamp," the Centre for the Study of Gender and Development (CGDS), University of the West Indies, in January 2003 began a study of access to the public water supply on Trinidad, particularly in relation to gender. Though by some estimates 90% of the population has access to an improved water supply, only 14% has access to a continuous supply. The majority of the population is plagued by a water supply that is haphazardly intermittent.

A team consisting of natural and social scientists from CGDS and a U.S. Fulbright Fellow undertook a case study of the community of Plum Mitan in east-central Trinidad. Since the 1950s, the community had independently managed a local spring to provide villagers potable water without dependence on the national public water system. Collective work involving a female-dominated village water council that includes maintenance and repairs of the dam and distribution system with volunteered labor as well as fund-raising for a village bank account has resulted in successful long-term and cooperative management of Plum Mitan's water supply. The team also undertook a case study of a contrasting community, Jones Village, in southern Trinidad that receives water from the public water supply system. The Jones Village Womens Group agitated with their council representatives to have pipe-borne water supplied to their community. With funds from a government self-help grant they succeeded ultimately in their goal.

Results of our study suggest that local water supplies managed by village councils with substantial female involvement may be an effective way to deliver predictable, if not continuous, water supplies to communities. Important lessons learned are: (1) water supply problems exist in countries that are not technically water scare; (2) locally managed supplies may be more effective water distribution systems than large engineered structures; (3) involvement of geoscientists in international community efforts to secure water resources can be useful provided they are undertaken in cooperation with and following the lead of colleagues in the host country.