Manager says interruption stemmed from Act of God
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - AS TROPICAL STORM Rafael passed over the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, many persons in St. Kitts have been crying out for lack of water supply for extended periods of time.
Persons in some areas of the island have complained of weakened water pressure while others have voiced that they have not had any water supply for hours, and some, almost an entire day.
Some schools including the Seventh Day Adventist Primary School, Epworth/Maurice Hillier Memorial Junior School, and the Victoria Road Pre School are without water supply and have had to ask parents and guardians to collect their children because of this.
The Water Department's Manager/Water Engineer, Cromwell Williams has given an update as to where the Water Department is in trying to restore water to the areas of the island that do not have water supply.
He explained that in Basseterre, some areas would have some water supply, but noted this:
"In the Basseterre area, most areas would have water with the exception of probably The Village area, because in such heavy weather, the Wingfield area would be off line. There would be little water or no water coming into our main facility which is the La Guerite treatment plant, as a result, that reservoir would be almost empty and as a result, persons in the higher parts of Basseterre such as The Village area would be out of water.
"The best we can do is to continue to monitor the river and as soon as it is at a level where persons can move up to the source, to the intake on the Wingfield river then we would be able to clear that river and put water back on line," Williams explained.
Williams further explained that such situations are what they call an "Act of God" as they stem from natural circumstances beyond the Department's control.
"Unfortunately this is what we call an Act of God, it is beyond our control. At this time, we just have to wait a bit until things ease up in terms of the flow of the river."
The Department's Manager went on to elucidate the situation in the other parts of the island, stating that most other areas, with the exception of some communities, should have water supply.
"Outside of Basseterre, on the Western side of the island, my understanding is that most areas from Camps going down to Old Road should have water. There might be one or two small pockets such as Mattingly that might be out of water.
"Further West down to Sandy Point, I think Sandy Point is on line in terms of having water and going around the rest of the island. Again, most of the villages and communities, we have managed to get them some water," he said.
Williams said that the Department's workers have had difficulty in visiting some of the rivers/Sources as attempts to do so have been impossible.
"We have had it particularly difficult in terms of going up to some of the Sources like the Cayon or Greenhill Source. The workers attempted to go up there this morning but it is impossible so we have to wait until things get better and I assume that the same might apply for some of the other higher elevations… Sources like Franklands and Stone Fort. We just have to wait until the weather improves before we can actually get up to those [Sources]."
He said that the roads leading up to those areas would be severely damaged so much so that even the tractors that they normally use to go up to those areas are unable to make the journey but noted "our workers are standing by and willing and ready to go out and see how soon we can get water back on line".
The Water Engineer explained that the island is dependent on two systems for water, one of which rely heavily on electricity supply, and that interruption in electricity supply could sometimes mean interruption in water supply as well.
"In St. Kitts, we have a combination of the river or the Source water as well as the wells. In terms of the wells, we are dependant to a large extent on the electricity and that would have been interrupted in some areas so bearing in mind that in some areas because of the interruption in electricity supply, our wells might not be functioning even though in many instances we have a standby generator, sometime those are not working perfectly either."
He noted that their electricians are trying to ensure that as many of the standby generators can be used to provide electricity to the wells that do not have the supply coming from SKELEC (St. Kitts Electricity Company).
Williams also took the opportunity to advise persons to conserve as much water as possible, noting that the next couple of days could be critical where water is concerned.
"What I would advise persons [to do] though is to use water very sparingly because even though we might have had some water in storage, which could be used up. And the way the weather is looking right now, we are not sure when it will ease up, so everyone should be using water very sparingly at this time so that it can last as long as possible, because we are not sure [because] electricity interruption can continue, our standby generators may only have so much fuel and so forth," he explained.
Williams said that the Water Department has persons in the various communities that could be of assistance to those persons who may be having water problems or inquiries, and that those persons could be contacted personally or through the Department's Main Office.
"We have different persons in different communities so the best thing is to try and get to someone who is normally stationed in one of the communities, what we call 'Area Overseers'. Normally, if you can get to one of those persons, but if you get to our main office, our main office will get to those persons," he explained.
The contact number for the Water Department's Main Office is 466 3070 or 466 1467.
