Stakeholders in Tourism Industry consulted on Draft Guidelines for Recreational Water Quality Standard

The Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards will engage stakeholders of the tourism industry in discussion of the draft Guidelines for Recreational Water Quality Standard for St. Lucia. The SLBS is working with the St. Lucia Hotel and Tourism Association SLHTA and the Sustainable Development and Environment Unit of the Ministry of Planning to bring this very important sector together to discuss the intention of the standard.

The draft guidelines respond to the increasing threats to the island’s recreational waters, with a view to regulating the quality of the water entering recreational waters. Saint Lucia’s waters, both riverine and coastal, and associated habitats, remain important to communities as a source of food and for recreation. However, human activities put these waters under increasing threat from a number of land-based pollutants in the form of sewage, sediments, nutrients, pesticides, litter and marine debris.

The document drafted by the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute CEHI was presented to government as part of a project funded by the European Union. This is the final consultation in a series of consultations with stakeholders whose activities impact recreational water quality.

Though at the draft stage, the document is already being used by the Marina in Marigot Bay which has began regular test of water quality in the bay, using the standard as a reference document.

The development of a Recreational Water Quality Standard for Saint Lucia is a first step in the implementation of the Land Based Sources of Marine Pollution Protocol ratified by the Government of Saint Lucia in January, 2008. More importantly, the standard once approved, can be used as an important tool to facilitate the maintenance of a high recreational water quality in Saint Lucia, so that the health of its people and visitors are not compromised.

The consultation will be held on Wednesday 20th January at the Palm Haven Hotel in Rodney Bay at 9:00 AM.

The draft Recreational Water Quality Standard is available on the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards website, www.slbs.org.lc or the GIS website at www.stlucia.gov.lc

For further information please contact Mr. Julius James at the Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards at telephone 456 0102 or Mr. Cornelius Isaac at the Sustainable Development and Environment Section at 468 5808.

Saint Lucia Bureau of Standards

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Stakeholders in Tourism Industry consulted on Draft Guidelines for Recreational Water Quality Standard