by Linda Straker
- Bills debated and approved by Lower House on 28 January 2025
- Amendments made to Water Resources Management and Regulation, National Water and Sewerage Authority and Public Utilities Regulatory Commission bills
- “King” replaces “Queen” and State of Grenada replaces Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique in the documents
Thirteen days after they were approved by Members of the Lower House of Parliament, 3 bills which will bring significant changes to the way water is managed and distributed in Grenada in the future, returned for final approval because of amendments made in the Upper House.
These 3 bills were debated and approved by the Lower House or House of Representatives when it met on 28 January 2025. However, when the Upper House or Senate met to approve the same bills, several simple but important amendments were approved.
The changes had mainly to do with the replacement of words. Phillip Telesford, Leader of Government, in presenting the changes to members, pointed out some of the changes. He said that the word “Queen” should be replaced with the word “King” throughout the document, and, instead of writing Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, the bill should only say the State of Grenada.
The Members did not object to any of the amendments to the Water Resources Management and Regulation; National Water and Sewerage Authority and Public Utilities Regulatory Commission which was agreed to when the Upper House met on 4 February.
The Water Resources Management and Regulation Bill, 2025 seeks to provide an institutional framework for the sustainable management, conservation, controlled allocation, development, use and regulation of the water resources by establishing the National Water Resources Management Unit in the Ministry of Public Utilities to manage the water resources of the state.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2025 Bill seeks to affect some amendments to the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission Act No. 20 of 2016 to empower the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission to have regulatory oversight of the Water Resources Management Unit in managing the state’s water resources.
The National Water and Sewerage Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2025 seeks to amend several clauses of the National Water and Sewerage Authority Act because of the Water Resources Management and Regulation Bill which removes the management of water from the National Water and Sewerage Authority (Nawasa).
