The Ministry of Health has intensified its focus on protecting water quality by delivering specialised training to improve national monitoring, risk assessment and coordinated response systems.
Environmental Health Officers completed a workshop designed to sharpen core competencies in water testing, hazard identification and rapid intervention, working alongside the Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) and the Water Resources Management Agency (WRMA) to reinforce a unified strategy to safeguard the island’s water supply.
Assistant Chief Environmental Health Officer Emerson Vitalis said in a news release that the training is designed to build the basic knowledge officers need to protect the public.
Officers must understand “what is water quality” and “how does it impact the population of St Lucia”, he noted, so they can ensure that “what is being provided to the population is a good quality of water”. Their work, he added, goes beyond treatment plants to inspections of community water sources and oversight of public swimming pools to ensure safe operation.
The workshop also pushed officers toward a more proactive surveillance model, training them to spot possible risks earlier rather than depending solely on standard checks.
Assistant Environmental Health Officer Jada Perineau said the training is equally valuable for the Vector Control Unit, which does not conduct water testing but depends on water‑related assessments to curb mosquito and rodent breeding.
Officers, she said, are now “equipped to give the recommendations on the spot” instead of referring every issue to another unit.
By investing in continuous technical training and strengthening partnerships across the water sector, the ministry intends to build a more resilient public health system capable of responding quickly to emerging water‑quality threats.
