Cuba and CARIBSAN to Sign Framework Agreement on Wastewater

HAVANA, Cuba – Representatives of the Caribbean Cooperation for the treatment of wastewater in the natural heritage (CARIBSAN) and the National Institute of Hydraulic Resources (INRH by its Spanish acronym) are scheduled to sign cooperation framework agreement in Havana on Saturday.

The signing of the document will be the last action of a CARIBSAN mission that arrived here a week ago with the aim of presenting and promoting a project to improve sanitation in fragile ecosystems in its coastal areas.

In presenting the details, the President of the Martinique Water office, Lucien Saliber, said the initiative that also includes Cuba, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Guadeloupe and Haiti, had requested to join the promotional meeting.

Saliber explained that CARIBSAN encourages the use of artificial wetland systems with planted filters for waste processing, based on nature’s purification capabilities, effectively applied for years in Guadeloupe and Martinique.

He described as advantageous the fact that it is a simpler solution, less expensive to build and maintain than the classic sanitation solutions and with greater resistance to hydrometeorological phenomena that impact the subregion, including cyclones during their season from June to November.

CARIBSAN receives the support of the European Territorial Cooperation Program, a financing tool for regional development, with the support of the International Office for Water (France) for this group of Antillean islands.