Acting Executive Director of the Caribbean Environmental Health Institute Patricia Aquing is calling for St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the region as a whole to sit up and take heed of the way we manage our water supply.

Aquing was addressing local health and environmental agencies, at a consultation held last week Tuesday at the Ministry of Health conference room.{{more}}

The session was convened to select a demonstration site for an integrated water management project, in which Union Island was selected.

Aquing said that water supply and resources need to be managed in a more integrated fashion, where agencies should work along with local organizations and stakeholders to ensure that water quality, waste management and the ecosystems are protected for future generations.

The head of the St. Lucia based organization said that water is becoming the next oil – saying that most conflicts in parts of the world are mainly because of the location of this resource.

Speaking about the project in Union Island which is to begin in the near future, Aquing said that her organization is hoping that the project is very successful, and the necessary organizations play their part in making it so.