By the end of March next year, Barbados Water Authority (BWA) customers in St Lucy and St Peter who have been plagued by discoloured water and poor supply should see an improvement in service.
That is the assurance from director of engineering Charles Leslie, who said they were using a threepronged approach to tackle the persistent water woes in the northern parishes. This included replacement of mains, installation of a filtration system at the Alleynedale Pumping Station and the construction of a containerised desalination plant at the Hope Plantation.
During a media conference at the BWA headquarters yesterday, acting chief executive officer Christopher Mapp said they spent about $20 million on mains replacement in St Lucy over the past two years – $7 million alone since April. The desalination plant is estimated to cost an additional $8 million.
Leslie said the filtration system was the first line of treatment for the north, adding that they also got some experts outside of Barbados to come in and assist with the analysis of the water and inspections of the area near the well. He said silt was causing the discolouration, which disappeared for a time and returned.
“So we’ve been doing testing on the silt to kind of understand the gradation of it and that gradation then was used to choose the filtration system. We were also doing testing on the quality of the water chemical as well as biological testing,” he said.
Water quality technician Jatoby Greaves said sampling was done at the Alleynedale well every month in collaboration with Government Analytical Services and the Environmental Protection Department. They tested for inorganics, metals and biological parameters. He told the public there were no coliform bacteria – which are harmful – nor heavy metals.
“The silt causes colour but that would not affect the safety of the water. We adhere to WHO [World Health Organisation] guidelines and we fall within all the limits. We have not found anything in the water. The colour is off-putting
but that is caused by the sediment,” Greaves said.
Leslie said the hydrogeological work which would determine the best site for the desalination plant and the number of wells was completed.
“The stage that we are at now is marling the area off. Up to yesterday [Friday], we had contractors on site doing that. We are expecting them to complete that by midweek next [this] week, and once that is completed, then we will start to move things onto the site . . . We are on target so far for the first quarter of next year having that plant up and operational.”
‘Safe to consume’
Alleynedale has been in operation since the 1960s and the discolouration first appeared in 2021. Leslie said they tested the quality, flow and colour of water in St Lucy and St Peter as part of ongoing maintenance.
Mapp said the brown-coloured water was safe to consume and he had no reservations about doing so.
“Would I feel comfortable drinking it? Yes. If other persons are not comfortable drinking it, I would not tell them to do anything that they’re not comfortable doing, but I myself would be comfortable drinking that water,” he said in response to a question from the media.
In response to another question about tracking improvement given the number of complaints about the water in St Lucy and St Peter, Leslie pointed to work done in Crab Hill, Mount Prior and Maycocks.
(SAT)
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