Caribbean Coastal Treatment Project Launched in Havana

Havana, May 16 (ACN) The Caribbean Cooperation Project for the Treatment of Waste Water in the Natural Patrimony—CARIBSAN—launched a project Monday in Havana to boost the sanitation of fragile ecosystems in Caribbean coastal areas.

Lucien Saliber, president of Martinique’s Water Office, explained details of the initiative which covers Cuba, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Guadeloupe and Haiti.

CARIBSAN fosters the use of artificial wetland systems with planted filters to process waste, based on nature’s depuration capacities, which have been applied successfully for years in Guadeloupe and Martinique, the official said.

It is a simpler, less costly solution if compared to classic waste treatment methods, while it has stronger resistance capacity to face hydro-meteorological phenomena which affect the region, including tropical storms, said Saliber.

The official addressed the meeting attended by representatives of the Cuban water resources institutes and France’s Agronomic Research Institute.

The CARIBSAN project is co-financed by the INTERREG Caribbean program under the European Regional Development Fund, by the French Development Agency and by the Water Offices of Martinique and Guadeloupe