Drought and water inequity in Caribbean Small Island Developing States

Droughts might be slow-acting but they are far-reaching

Of all natural disasters, drought has the most far-reaching impact on society and the environment. Although Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS) have long experienced droughts that have incurred huge losses, hurricanes and storms have received more attention.  This is not surprising as droughts are slow-acting disasters that are less visible than fast-acting disasters and their costs are harder to measure because of widespread and cascading impacts. 

Because of climate variability and change, droughts are becoming more frequent and more severe in Caribbean SIDS, and they occur amidst other water challenges that compound the impact of the droughts, including unsustainable water management practices, growing demands by competing water users (e.g. tourism, agriculture, and urban domestic households), and above-all inequity in water access (World Bank, 2022). Throughout the Caribbean, rural and peri-urban areas, where most of the poor live, lag in access to piped water. This has been a long-standing issue, compounding numerous droughts, including several that occurred in Jamaica in the 1990s. 

Unequal access to water results in unequal impact of droughts

The 1990s droughts in Jamaca were particularly felt by the rural and urban poor because most were not connected to piped water. In 1996, access to piped water was highest in the capital Kingston with 96.4% of households enjoying this water source, followed by other urban areas with 73.3%. But in rural areas only 42.9% of households enjoyed piped water and some 13% of rural households had to walk more than 900m to get water from a standpipe or public tank, and some 8% relied on untreated surface water (Statistical Institute of Jamaica, 1996:80; U.S. Army Corps and Engineers, 2001: 9). 

Within Kingston, there were areas with few connections in the overcrowded inner-city communities and informal settlements. This was partly because getting connected was a complicated and costly process and many people were renting, and their owners were not directly inconvenienced by a lack of connection. If they had no access to piped water in their home or yard, they often used a neighbour’s tap. A study of 42 low-income neighbourhoods in Kingston in the late 1980s (McLeod, 1987:113) found that nearly 30% shared a water source with more than 25 people. As the Nation Water Commission refused to supply water to households lacking land tenure,  residents of informal settlements – of which there were  some  200 (Ministry of Water and Housing, 2008: 20 and 24) – used the nearest standpipe or illegal tapped water. There were then areas in Kingston where many households relied on a standpipe, including Hope Tavern and the informal settlements of Riverton City and Causeway (McLeod, 1987:110). 

The main impact of the droughts on the urban poor were the water lockoffs, which could last for up to 9 hours a day and go on for weeks, and a rise in the price of vegetables and fruit on the domestic market caused by reduced crops, which enhanced food insecurity. Rural areas, which had the highest poverty rate, suffered most from the droughts. Because water infrastructure was less developed here, households often had no choice but to purchase expensive water from private water trucks or drink untreated water, which increased the risk of disease. Many rural households lived off the cultivation of domestic crops. As they could not afford an irrigation system and received little or no support from government to prepare for and cope with the drought, such as free seedlings to replant, they suffered significant crop losses which reduced their income and affected all members of a household, including children who struggled to attend school because their parents could not pay for school transport (Jamaica Gleaner, 1991-98). 

Lessons from the 1990s droughts 

The 1990s droughts in Jamaica highlight that equity in water access and planning for future water needs of different sets of users are key to limit the impact of future droughts, and that small farmers, who are the backbone of domestic food production and thus crucial to food security, need more government support. Jamaica now has a drought predictability tool (Climate Links, 2016), a National Drought Management Committee (Jamaica Information Service, 2020), and the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has a drought mitigation committee (Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, 2020). Yet more can be done to help small farmers prepare for and cope with droughts. For example, the agricultural extension services could teach small farmers to plant drought-resistant crops and how best to retain soil moisture, while government could set up a water tank scheme in rural areas to enable small farmers without irrigable land to minimise crop loses during droughts. 

Water services in Jamaica have not kept pace with increased and competing demands for water nor has the National Water Commission planned for a future with more droughts. For most of the population, water services today are inadequate in terms of the quality of water provided and the regularity and access to it. Each year during dry spells many people must cope with lockoffs. For instance, in July 2020 residents serviced by the Mona dam in Kingston first saw water access cut to 16 hours a day and later to 12 hours (Jamaica Observer, 24 July 2020). As such, those who can afford it install a water storage tank to ensure a reliable supply (Mullings, 2020: 238) but this only increases inequity in water access. Overcoming this and other shortcomings in water provision will not be easy, requiring a lot of investment and greater collaboration between different stakeholders, but it is essential to secure socio-economic development and build resilience in the face of climate change.