Why the Need for Recreational Water Quality Standards?
By Sustainable Development and Environment Department We Saint Lucians are very fortunate. We live on an island, and that means we are surrounded by water: the sea. Also, the mountainous nature of the island, as well as the fact that we are located in the tropics, has resulted in the island having a number of streams, rivers and waterfalls. These streams and rivers have from the beginning provided us with the water necessary to run our homes: to drink, cook, wash and clean. The water available from our pipes in our homes is called potable water. Potable water, or drinking water as it is more commonly known, is actually water of sufficiently high quality that can be consumed or used without risk of immediate or long-term harm to us humans. However, we will NOT be focusing on drinking water for the purposes of this article. Instead we will be discussing recreational waters: these are waters that we play in, fish in, swim in, and bathe in. These recreational waters include our rivers, wat
