Activity 1: Water Quality Monitoring System
? Increased capacity of SMMA to undertake water quality monitoring. The Department of Fisheries in collaboration with SMMA conducts quarterly water quality monitoring on enterococci.

? Acquisition of baseline water quality data for the SMMA and established water quality parameters

? Increased awareness of recreational water quality (riverine, spring and marine) within the Piton Management Area.

? Establishment of new partnerships with government agencies. SMMA partnered with the Caribbean Sea, Student Environmental Alliance to conduct water quality monitoring of nutrients in the Soufriere River with their youth arm in Soufriere.

Activity 2: Biogas Digester Demonstration Site
? Establishment of new partnerships with government agencies

? Increased sensitization of farmers to new technology and increased knowledge in the design and construction of this type of bio-gas digester

? Improved technology introduced in the community for managing pig waste.

? 1 Farmer trained in the design and construction of a biogas digester

? Availability of low cost bio-gas digester as demonstration site on island


Activity 3: Environmental Awareness Campaign
? Increased sensitization of the Soufriere community to the impacts of poor water quality within the Piton Management Area

? Increased sensitization of community members of the issue of pollution within the Piton Management Area.

? Increased ownership by community members of the impact of poor water quality on human and environmental health as emanated out of the workshop held to present the water quality results as well as from training school children in water quality monitoring techniques.


CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT
A number of activities were undertaken to build capacity within the community during the implementation of the project and entailed:
? A Visit to a pig-farm with a working bio-gas digester within the Global Environment Facility ? Integrating Watershed and Coastal Area Management (GEF-IWCAM) Project Demonstration Site in the Fond d?Or Watershed in Saint Lucia to learn their experiences and determine how it could be replicated in Soufriere.

? Training of a local farmer in the design and construction of a biogas digester from an experienced engineer from the United States.

? A river walk to sensitize community members on how grey and black water emanating from their households gets into the rivers and eventually the sea and how that water can impact negatively on human and environmental health.

? A river and beach clean-up activities to sensitize the community on the amount of solid waste that accumulates in water-ways due to indiscriminate disposal practices.

? Presentations to a number of schools and community organisations within the community to sensitize them on the impacts of poor recreational water quality on human and environmental health.

? Training of Soufriere Comprehensive Secondary School in water sampling practices.

? Training of SMMA staff in use of the YSI 85 multi- parameter hand-held.

? Development of water quality programme/protocol for SMMA by Caribbean EcoHealth Programme.



PROJECT CHALLENGES

The following are challenges experienced during the project implementation:
? The expertise to design and construct the biogas digester did not exist on the island and as such the construction phase of the biogas digester was delayed. However, with the assistance of Caribbean Student Environment Alliance (SEA) an NGO based in the United States that does work in a number of Caribbean islands, an engineer from the United States who had experience in the design and construction of such devices was brought to Saint Lucia to assist in the implementation of this project activity. Additional assistance was also obtained from a technician within the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. To avoid this delay, more time should have been devoted at the project conception stage towards the investigation of designs for biogas digesters (inclusive of the covers) and time should have been allocated in the project schedule towards testing how successful the biogas digester would be constructed and implemented. Further, although it would not have been complete, work should have begun on documenting the case study for the construction of the biogas digester. This would have ensured that farmers gained hands-on experience in the design and construction of the technology.

? The construction to the biogas digester was delayed a number of times due to the fact that material for the construction of the cover was unavailable in Saint Lucia and had to be sourced externally. Time should have been allocated during the design phase of the project to ensure that the material needed to construct the cover would have been available in Saint Lucia.

? This project for the most part sought to improve recreational water quality within the Piton Management Area and as such support from the Environmental Health Department, Ministry of Health was required. However, at times it appeared that it was difficult to obtain the support of the Environmental Health Department. The passage of Hurricane Tomas could have also impacted on the resources of the Environmental Health Department which, at that time, had to mobilize their limited resources to ensure that human health was not compromised in the aftermath of the hurricane. Attempts should be made, in the future to engage critical stakeholders from the project development so that they too can feel ownership for the project.

? Although the project was successfully able to undertake the water quality monitoring of recreational water and later of permanent springs used by residents to collect water after the passage of Hurricane Tomas, for the most part it was difficult to release the data to the public. Water quality information on the island is considered to be confidential and the mandate lies with the Ministry of Health. However, with the support of the Ministry of Health, the SMMA was able to present the water quality results at a workshop for stakeholders within the Soufriere community and its environs, as well as Government representatives. The issue of releasing water quality data is one that unfortunately could not have been addressed through the implementation of this project, and it is something that needs to be discussed nationally at the policy level within Government. The Cabinet Appointed Ad Hoc Recreational Water Quality Committee has had initial discussion on how this issue could be addressed.

? The SMMA worked with a number of community groups within the Soufriere region to implement a number of the project activities. However, some of these community groups were not necessarily environmentally inclined and as such it was difficult to obtain their continued support in implementing a number of the project?s activities. For future projects incentives could be considered to encourage the public to participate in group activities such as clean-up campaigns.