 Throughout the years, the Joint Comptem Dam has retained over 1.7 million cubic metres of silt, which has displaced over 400 million gallons of storage water. This phase will see the dredging of the dam to increase the total water reserve capacity of the plant. Chairman of the Board of Directors, Francis Denbo, explains the complex undertaking will see the transfer of silt to the sediment disposal area through both onshore and offshore pipes. The reservoir's full capacity has been reduced from 700 million gallons of water storage to 300 million gallons. The challenge then was to bring the reservoir back to its original capacity. As future storms could result in the reservoir being completely filled with silt, bearing in mind that with each rainfall within the forest, there is a continuous leakage of silt into the reservoir on a daily basis, from exposed landslides on hundreds of mountain terrain surfaces that are impossible to access or rehabilitate. Assumptions are that it will take 8 to 10 years of dredging works to fully dissolve the reservoir. Speaking at the ceremony held in Millet on Thursday, the Minister with Responsibility for the Islands Natural Resources, Honourable Ezekiel Joseph, explains that a supporting project facilitated through the Forestry Division to stabilise the soil around the dam will prove to augment WASCO's efforts to bring about a more improved water quality and infrastructure. This is another major accomplishment for us as a team, it's another major accomplishment for us as a government and you heard from the Chairman all the work that we have done for the past four and a half years, that's not been easy, but I can stand up and say I have a team that I believe in, I have a government and a cabinet that's very supportive of what we are doing with WASCO, and I'm sure like the pastor prayed for us a while ago, that we would see the completion of phase two without any major accidents. Prime Minister Honourable Alan Shastney commended the work of the Natural Resources Minister and his team for their continuous efforts to build a more resilient Saint Lucia. But it's so good to see that a group of men and women have come together and put their minds to it to progress, and this is why we keep on saying that we need to build a new Saint Lucia, not just a better Saint Lucia, but a world-class Saint Lucia, and it starts with water. We need to have secure, clean water being distributed through the length and breadth of this country to allow development to take place. The facility of the John Compton Dam is being funded by the Caribbean Development Bank, the Government of Saint Lucia, and the Water and Sewage Company, WASCO. From the information unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, I am Anisia Antoine reporting.