Low water availability may become a problem during the 2019 dry season – Met Office

DOWASCO water storage tank in the Kalinago Territory

With projections for rainfall from the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF) through the Dominica Meteorological Service trending to below than what is normal, a strain on water resources is expected towards the end of April 2019.

The dry season, already in progress, runs from December to May with December and May serving as transition months into the dry and wet seasons, respectively.

Dominica came from a wet season with rainfall totals that were normal to above normal in some parts of the island. Therefore, scarcity does not present much of a problem at this time. However, since the island is now in its period where rainfall amounts are generally decreasing, receiving less than normal rainfall amounts throughout the period is expected to have some implications for rainfall reliant industries and generally dry locations such as communities along the west coast. Accompanied by projections for above normal temperatures, the chances of bush fires this season are also increased.

A weak El Niño is contributing to this reduced rainfall amounts across parts of the Eastern Caribbean and strongly supports the forecast for below normal rainfall until the end of April. The possibility of these extremely dry conditions and possible drought unfolding is much higher for islands in the southern Caribbean such as Barbados and Grenada.

With that in mind, the Dominica Meteorological Service is advising the public and relevant sectors to practice conservation and proper storage measures in the likelihood of low water availability. The Meteorological Service will continue to monitor the hydro-meteorological conditions and provide necessary updates.

CariCOF climate outlooks are prepared by the Caribbean Institute for Meteorology and Hydrology along with the Meteorological services from around the Caribbean basin to aid in sectoral decision-making. The Dominica Meteorological Service is the provider of weather and climate products on the island.

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8 Comments

  1. Johnnie Boy
    March 16, 2019

    LET’S SURE SOME LOVE UNITY IS STRENGTH

  2. johnnie Boy
    March 16, 2019

    Free eye drop for persons over sixty election around the corner, what a joke.

  3. March 14, 2019

    Let’s hope that the “new” pipe line at Antrim, which appears to be in limbo, is completed before the existing pipe line bursts yet again.

  4. carlty
    March 14, 2019

    Climate Change isn’t being friendly at all to the world. The earth is punishing us. I see this being a problem. If we are honest with ourselves, we have an issue with conserving and preserving our resources. We can be very wasteful when we come to such. I see how we have water following all over the place. I recall DOWASCO having to condemn public standpipes throughout the years simply because of our habits with using water and how we treat public facilities. I cannot say this time it is a lack of education because this is something we are taught from preschool.
    I hope people take heed of this call and the practice remains with us in future.

  5. Annon
    March 14, 2019

    Drill some wells. The earth replenishes water underneath the ground. It is called ‘primary water.’ The rain is ‘secondary water’ and is now even more polluted by all of the geoengineering going on in the skies. There is no shortage of water on this planet, however, there is a shortage of the truth.

  6. Neville
    March 14, 2019

    The resident water company is utterly incompetent and operates a short sighted business model on the island. Eventually it will end up in a situation when it can’t supply water to its customers in extreme situations.

  7. Braindamage
    March 14, 2019

    That El Nino there, is just a sure Good-Bye sign for the Skerrit labor party.
    Dominica, as a country with so much water, 20 years sucking our blood, failed to improve the water system in the country..

    • johnnie Boy
      March 16, 2019

      Brain damage i love your comment very factual.

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