The bottled water industry in the Caribbean will come under critical scrutiny when the Caribbean Water and Waste Water Association (CWWA) hosts a debate on the subject during its annual conference (CWWA) in T&T from today to Friday.
The debate will take place tomorrow at 9 am at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain and will be moderated by Vincent Sweeney, Head of the Caribbean Sub-Regional Office of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) with feature contributions from representatives of a variety of interests engaged in the industry.
The debate arises out of a CWWA study on the economic and environmental impact of the bottled water industry on countries of the Caribbean region and its implications for the water utilities sector.
Representing the industry will be Dominic Hadeed, CEO of Blue Waters Products Limited of T&T. Other panellists include Adrianus A Vlugman, environmental engineer and environmental health adviser with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO); former Sustainable Development Minister of Saint Lucia, environmental consultant, Dr James Fletcher and Ronald Roach, CEO of the T&T Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL).
Panellists will discuss the relationship between the bottled water industry and state water utilities, impact of plastic bottles used and the relatively high cost of the commercial product.
CWWA President, Jason Johnson said: "This long-awaited debate will help bring clarity to several burning social, environmental and economic issues related to an industry that has grown exponentially over the years but which has also generated as many concerns as there have been evident benefits."
"This is important since, in many ways, the Caribbean can be said to be drowning in discarded plastics and beverage containers. Bottled water and plastics belong to the discussion we need to have throughout the Caribbean to address such a concern."