Evaluating the costs and components of a territory-wide household water storage and treatment program in the US Virgin Islands

Among island communities, water security and access continue to be a critical issue. In the US Virgin Islands (USVI), 90% of households are capable of collecting roof-harvested rainwater, whereas less than 25% of households are connected to a municipal water system serviced by desalination plants. R...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Water policy 2022-10, Vol.24 (10), p.1692-1703
Main Authors: Voth-Gaeddert, Lee E., Momberg, Douglas, Brathwaite, Kela, Schranck, Andrew, Libbey, Stephen, Lemley, Mandy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Barriers
Capital
Capital costs
Censuses
cistern water
Colonies & territories
Costs
Data analysis
Desalination
Desalination plants
Drinking water
Health care expenditures
Households
inline chlorinator
Installation
Installation costs
Islands
Municipal water
NGOs
Nongovernmental organizations
Pilot projects
Rain
Rain water
Rainwater recovery systems
roof-harvested rainwater
Security
stakeholder engagement
Stakeholders
Storage
Territorial waters
Treatment programs
usvi
uv water treatment
Water
Water desalting
Water harvesting
Water security
Water storage
Water treatment
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Among island communities, water security and access continue to be a critical issue. In the US Virgin Islands (USVI), 90% of households are capable of collecting roof-harvested rainwater, whereas less than 25% of households are connected to a municipal water system serviced by desalination plants. Rainwater collection leaves the household in charge of managing and treating their own water. Therefore, understanding current barriers to accessing water treatment technologies and the costs of a water storage and treatment program at scale are critical in developing a territory-wide program. In this study, we evaluate (1) household-level barriers to accessing water treatment technologies, (2) a cost breakdown of a UV water treatment pilot program, and (3) potential estimates of program costs at a territory-wide scale. The results suggest that for households, key barriers include knowledge of the problem or solution and capital and installation costs. From the programmatic cost evaluation, the water treatment technology and water testing services were the most expensive. However, given key adjustments, a territory-wide program is estimated to cost $30.4 M covering 50% of households. These data can be used by a coalition of stakeholders in allocating financial and managerial responsibility for a territory-wide water storage and treatment program in USVI.
ISSN:1366-7017
1996-9759
DOI:10.2166/wp.2022.127