Basseterre, St. Kitts (MoPIEUDT NEWS) – The St. Kitts Water Services Department (WSD) will launch multiple public relations campaigns ahead of the annual commemoration of World Water Day on March 22 to sensitize the general public about its operations and to foster a deeper understanding of the public’s role in water conservation.
The top-level management of the WSD is in talks with well-known social media influencers to develop and implement national campaigns that would drive home the message of water conservation and the public’s participation in the process.
“We are happy to have the influencers on board who, through their creativity and reach, can help us to amplify awareness and encourage a collective responsibility towards the conservation of this most critical resource.”
– Nikisha Jeffers, WSD Executive Officer
In the past, the activities of the WSD have been abstract despite ongoing efforts by management to inform the public about its operations through its fortnightly Water Line radio program on ZIZ Radio and ramped-up social media and website presence. With the launch of a new campaign incorporating popular figures, however, the WSD hopes to elevate its conservation message and reap the benefits of its impact.
As part of its strategy, the WSD leadership remains tight-lipped about the identities of the social media influencers it is courting but indicated that the product would have a high entertainment and information value.
Indicative of its reliance on evolving communication strategies and the shift to feature private citizens in its ads, the WSD released a social media video on water conservation tips on January 5, 2025. That video garnered 22,419 views and 431 engagements as of March 6, 2025.
The WSD published its first video incorporating a social media influencer on September 18, 2024. The video promoted its online payment platform. It received 1600 organic views.
In addition to incorporating social media influencers into its campaigns, the WSD will publish flyers with conservation tips on its Facebook page in March.
WSD Water Manager and Engineer Cromwell Williams hopes the conservation message is received well as he believes careful use of water by citizens could be the difference between the WSD’s rationing water and not.
“If every single household in St. Kitts would pay for the water it uses, and would use only the water it needs, we would not have to ration water.”
-Cromwell Williams, WSD Water Manager and Engineer
The WSD will also include primary schoolers in its public outreach strategy by hosting its inaugural Primary School Quiz on Thursday, March 20, 2025. Primary schools in St. Kitts are eligible to participate in the closed competition. The participants will field questions on glacier preservation, the water cycle, aquifers, desalination and related content, as they compete for the title, trophy, and cash prize of EC$500.
WSD Executive Officer Nikisha Jeffers, who also serves as a planning committee member, articulated the main benefit the WSD hopes to derive from the participating students.
“Through their participation in the quiz we hope to see our children becoming stewards of the resource. We want to foster a sense of responsibility by making them aware of how their actions can impact the environment and the role they can play in bringing about change. This is also an avenue to empower them to educate their families and communities about the importance of water.”
– Nikisha Jeffers, WSD Executive Officer
As the WSD navigates the challenges induced by unfavourable climatic events, its interactions with the public continue to evolve. By adapting to challenges and innovating through them in ways that garner support from the public, it showcases its agency for water management, conservation, and security.
For more news from the WSD, including details of its other activities to commemorate World Water Day, visit mopieudt.gov.kn and follow the WSD’s Facebook page.
