(Stock Photo)
The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) continues to experience problems in various sections of its distribution network. Today, Monday, December 24, there were water outages in two parishes – St. Joseph and St. Thomas.
And according to Marketing Officer, Yvette Harris-Griffith, “this problem arose because of low reservoir levels at the Castle Grant facility. Castle Grant receives water from Apes Hill and Golden Ridge Reservoirs where the water levels are now too low to pump. BWA Engineers are working to adjust the feed into Golden Ridge by pumping some extra water from Sweet Vale”.
Mrs. Harris-Griffith also disclosed that some St. Philip and Christ Church districts had low water pressure and outages today, as a result of a power outage, which affected the Hampton Pumping Station.
“While I am happy to report that all pumps at that facility are back online and water has started flowing back to the affected districts, there are still a few St. Philip and Christ Church areas suffering low pressure or a water outage. We ask for your patience as it will take some time for levels at the Rising Sun Reservoir that feed these areas to return to normal,” Mrs. Harris-Griffith added.
The BWA has advised that a fleet of approximately nine water tankers and its super tanker have been deployed to assist customers in the interim, while outages persist.
The Authority is receiving assistance from partners in both the public and private sector to carry out the tanker service. Seale’s Trucking has come on board to help distribute water and the Barbados Defence Force is providing crews to help sustain the distribution of water by tanker. Other members of the BWA team are also in the field today distributing buckets to assist customers.
Mrs. Harris-Griffith is urging customers to bear with the Authority as it works to address issues and restore water to all the affected areas. Persons with queries or who wish to notify the BWA about any challenges should call 434-4292 or email customercare@bwa.gov.bb.
Meanwhile, over the weekend, the Authority was impacted by power outages that severely impaired its ability to maintain continuous pumping from some facilities.
Last Friday, a problem also developed with a pump at the Ellerton Station in St. George. That pump was changed and water should have been flowing back to all of the affected areas.
However, outages or low pressure remains a challenge for customers in districts such as Blenman Road. BWA crews are currently investigating this report because it appears that there may be a blockage in a section of the main feeding that area.
A power outage occurred between last Friday night and early Saturday morning that affected four stations along the West Coast up to St. Peter. These included Lodge Hill and Haymans and a pump was damaged at Ashton Hall. That pump has since been changed and pumping to all affected areas was resumed.