Project Detail

Provision of a Mobile Desalination Facility to provide potable water in times of crisis and to provide a ready and reliable source of water for Fisherfolk and the Laborie Community in Saint Lucia.

This project aims to build resilience in the small fishing village of Laborie when potable water becomes unavailable in the aftermath of weather related phenomena, e.g., storms and hurricanes.

The goal of the project is to provide a safe supply of water to the residents of Laborie in post disaster periods and after other related weather events. This project will have four components as follows; (i) installation of the mobile desalination plant; (ii) Installation of solar panels; (iii) information and education of the public on CC; and (iv) training in maintenance of water plant.

The benefit cost report prepared during the PG phase will be a monitoring guide and the impact mitigation measures identified will be implemented and the results monitored.

This project will contribute to the CBA Outcome - Complementary and supplementary water resources for household and community established and protected as a means of increasing resilience.

Project Snapshot

Grantee:

Laborie Fishers and Consumers Cooperative Ltd.

Country:

Saint Lucia

Area Of Work:

Community Based Adaptation

Operational Phase:

Phase 5

Grant Amount:

US$ 27,468.00

Co-Financing Cash:

US$ 4,444.00

Co-Financing in-Kind:

US$ 14,815.00

Project Number:

STL/SIDS - CBA/15/01

Start Date:

5/2015

End Date:

6/2017

Status:

Satisfactorily Completed

Project Characteristics and Results

Policy Influence

No direct or indirect influence on policy was documented by the end of the project.

Linkages gef projects

No linkages.

Policy Impact

Not anticipated.

Inovative Financial Mechanisms

Not applicable.

Gender Focus

Not applicable.

Significant Participation of Indigenous Peoples

Not applicable.

Planning gef grant

Not at this time.

Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods

Not directly applicable except in post disaster periods.

Capacity - Building Component

The grantee will be trained to maintain the technology.

Project sustainability

The project emerged out of a demand for water in drought conditions and/or after cyclonic events. With such a real demand the system ought to be sustainable. However, because of the absence of internal technical capacity within the group, the absence of training of individuals to maintain the system, the dependence on one individual to run and maintain the system, and the absence of insurance for the system. the long term sustainability is debatable.

Promoting Public Awareness of Global Environment

The project will inform the community of the impacts of CC and how community resilience can be built.

Replication of project activities

The steps are well documented in project documents, pictorially and in video. There are several videos on You Tube.

Notable Community Participation

There will be extensive stakeholder participation as this project moves from conception to reality.

Planning non gef grant

Yes! There is every possibility that other agencies will be interested. By the end of the project the Japanese Climate Change Project had allocated US$70,000 for upscaling.

Project Results

This project was effectively a research and experimental project to find a sustainable and optimal way of desalinating sea water into potable water, while not polluting the environment or creating dead zones in the near shore area from brine. In that respect, the project was highly successful when it created the first mobile desalination plant, run exclusively on solar with zero brine emissions, and a daily production capacity of approximately 1514 litres per day. An independent study by the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) confirmed that the water was potable and met the highest existing standards. According to CAPRHA, though ?the source water did not meet the microbial requirements for recreational bathing; however, the desalinization process through reverse osmosis was highly efficient at removing microbials, ions and nutrients from the source water (coastal water), thus providing water which is suitable for consumption.? This fit of engineering by a fisherfolk was hailed by many people.

During the project cycle three VRA (Vulnerability Reduction Assessment) sessions (Beginning; Mid-way; and End) were concluded to determine the degree of resilience of the group and its members. -The results were as follows: 3.15 at project commencement; 2.22 mid-way in the project cycle; and 3.4 by the end of the project. The decline of the score at the mid-point was due in part to a change in the membership of the Board and the fuller understanding of the challenges of Climate Change. Comparatively, the end of project score was reasonably high, which reflected the high confidence of members in post project management and the ability to contend with the challenges of Climate Change.
During project implementation, 4 persons were employed in areas such as accounting and construction. Men earned a total of US$519 and women earned a total of US$167.
Three men received training in proposal writing and fabrication of a mobile, solar driven plant.
This project had to overcome many challenges, which included the poor communication between project personnel and the Board of Directors; the lack of a continuity plan; the inadequacy of record keeping for long term management; the failure of the Board to sign an MOU with the fisher who owned the intellectual property rights, and the non-implementation of a training programme in maintenance of the system.
This project has an option for upscaling with Japanese funding and we expect greater achievements in the future, where already there is talk of augmenting production to 3,785 litres per day.

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