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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Jewel Fraser in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad

‘People shouldn’t expect there will be water in their taps every day’: why is St Lucia running out of water?

A woman in an orange tshirt examines the brown leaves of a parched sapling.
Anja Fernand’s family farm captures thousands of gallons of rainwater a year to help see them through periods of scarcity. All photographs by Lesley-Ann Regis Photograph: Lesley-ann Regis/Reel One Media/The Guardian

When St Lucia’s rainy season began in May, Madeleine Solomon, 55, breathed a sigh of relief. For months, she had been feeling the squeeze of an intermittent water supply that disrupted normal hygiene and food preparation, forcing families like hers to rely on water tanks, rainwater harvesting and bottled water bought from private companies.

“I’m thanking God every day because our situation was really bad,” she says.

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