NEWS RELEASE

Three Hundred Thousand US Dollar Water Laboratory to be built for NAWASA

Thursday, July 19, 2007, St. George’s: The National Water and Sewerage Authority, (NAWASA), held a ground breaking ceremony on, Friday July 13^th, 2007, to mark the commencement of the construction of a ‘state of the art’ water laboratory, in Observatory Road St. George's. With this new facility, all water quality tests will be done on island thus simplifying the process of having the data (results) available in a timelier manner.

The ceremony was attended by the Deputy Prime Minster and Minister for Public Utilities, Hon. Gregory Bowen; Senator Anne David Antoine Minster for Health, the Environment and Ecclesiastic Affairs; Chairman of NAWASA's Board of Directors Mr. Winston Gabriel; and the management and staff of NAWASA.

Senator Anne David Antoine, in her remarks annunciated that the water quality in Grenada must be of a high standard particularly for consumption. She expressed her satisfaction of being a part of the Ground Breaking Ceremony and seeing NAWASA get ready to increase its efficiency through improved operations and increase in the number of tests that would carried out to ensure suitable quality and that the results are available in a timely manner.

Hon. Gregory Bowen in delivering the feature address congratulated NAWASA on this new step in the company's history. He also complemented the company for its role in speedily restoring the water supply to consumers after the passage of the Hurricanes Ivan and Emily; the important role it played in Grenada's successful hosting of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007; and for continuing with the water for the needy programme. Minster Bowen also congratulated the Board of Directors and the Management and staff of NAWASA for their commitment to continually supply the nation with good quality water. He said: "the construction of this new Laboratory will ensure that the quality of water is of the highest standard".

In his remarks, the Managing Director of NAWASA, Mr. Damian Shillingford, said that he is looking forward to the completion of the project so that NAWASA can continue to provide excellent service to its customers.

The Project is part of a regional project, with grant funds from the Government of Spain, and administered through CARICOM, through a Memorandum of Understanding. The Grant totals US $300,000.00 (three hundred thousand United States dollars) and will also be used for the purchase of equipment and for training, which will be done in collaboration with the Caribbean environmental health institute, apart from the construction of the new facility.

Ministry of Agriculture