Access to safe drinking water remains a pressing, unresolved crisis for communities across Suriname, prompting three lawmakers from different political blocs to call on the National Assembly (DNA) and the national government to implement urgent, targeted interventions to address widespread disparities in access and affordability.
Rabin Parmessar, leader of the NDP parliamentary faction, has raised sharp alarm over exorbitant connection costs that put access to the national water grid out of reach for many households. He pointed to a recent case in Commewijne, where local residents were quoted a total price of nearly 250,000 units to install new water infrastructure to serve their community. What makes the situation particularly unacceptable, Parmessar argues, is that households are being forced to cover not just the cost of individual connections from the main pipeline to their homes, but also the full cost of constructing the main arterial pipeline itself. While he notes that individual connection fees are a reasonable expectation for households, forcing local communities to shoulder the entire cost of primary infrastructure development goes far beyond what residents can reasonably be expected to pay. Parmessar emphasized that he has never encountered such a lopsided cost structure in his decades in public life, and stressed that clean water is an irreplaceable basic necessity, especially during the annual dry season when water scarcity worsens across the country.
Genevievre Jordan, a parliamentarian from the ABOP party, drew attention to the acute crisis faced by remote communities along the Marowijne River, where hundreds of residents remain completely cut off from access to treated clean drinking water. Jordan explained that the situation becomes particularly dangerous during the dry season, when natural, unregulated water sources shrink and become increasingly contaminated. She has called on the government to fast-track development of long-term solutions for these inland communities, and pressed the Ministry of Finance and Planning to expedite review of funding requests from the Ministry of Natural Resources dedicated to expanding water access in Marowijne.
Jordan stressed that expanding universal access to clean water is not just a domestic policy demand, but a binding international commitment Suriname has made as part of the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, which prioritize universal access to basic clean water for all communities. She called it completely unacceptable that as the country approaches 2026, residents of inland Suriname still lack access to this core basic necessity.
Steven Reyme, a legislator from the A20 party, added that the water access crisis is not limited to inland rural areas. Even in the capital city of Paramaribo, dozens of neighborhoods are home to households that still struggle to secure formal access to potable water and electricity, he explained. For low-income families living below the poverty line that make up large shares of these urban communities, the high upfront cost of connecting to utility grids remains an insurmountable barrier.
Reyme has called on the government to explore the creation of tailored payment schemes that would allow low-income households to pay connection fees in installments rather than requiring full upfront payment. While he acknowledged that the Surinamese government already provides subsidies for basic utility services, he noted that even with existing support, many vulnerable households cannot cover the required upfront connection costs. Flexible payment plans targeted at low-income families, he argued, would close this gap and allow all households to access the basic services they need.
While the three legislators focused on distinct regional and economic dimensions of Suriname’s drinking water crisis, their statements converged on a shared core concern: access to affordable, clean drinking water remains far from a guaranteed right for a large share of the Surinamese population. Lawmakers from across the country’s political factions have united to pressure the national government to prioritize long overdue reforms and infrastructure investments to ensure this fundamental basic need is accessible to all citizens, regardless of where they live or their income level.