BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SADDLERS’ water woes could be over since a pipe-laying project undertaken by the Water Department to channel water to the community was successfully completed late last week.
The project commenced earlier in the week and saw the laying of 6 000 feet of pipe from the reservoir in Gibbons, Dieppe Bay which, according to Acting Manager of the Department Denison Paul, is fed by a well at White Gate.
In a recent interview with SKNVibes, Paul explained that as a result of the successful project, some 140 000 gallons of water are daily diverted from that area to the Saddlers area.
He said the project was completed over the past weekend and the residents had a steady and reliable supply of water by 6:00 on Saturday evening.
“For the past month or so the people of Saddlers, particularly the folks at the project opposite the playfield at the high elevation, they had unreliable supply, maybe two or three hours per day they would have water.
“…And so now, for the medium term, Saddlers would not be experiencing any water problems because they have an option of reliable ground water supply, so that even next dry season where there is very little water from the surface supply that is at Phillips’, Saddlers is going to be okay.”
Paul said diverting water would not affect other communities that receive it from the Gibbons reservoir.
“We diverted the water from a line going to Gibbons reservoir in Dieppe Bay, but the well is really in the White Gate area, a well we call White Gate Well. It supplies Gibbons usually, but Gibbons’ demand is only about 60 000 per day. This well produces around 220 000 per day.”
Sometime last month, Paul told the media that the Federation is experiencing an extended dry spell with only 0.2 inches of rainfall being recorded for May, 2015 when the average of rainfall recorded for the same period over the past couple of years is five inches.
He reissued the appeal made previously for individuals to conserve water, especially since the overall situation has not yet improved.
“We are still in this dry spell. Areas like the upper area of Cayon and Lodge are still being affected. We are working on a short-term solution for Lodge, but Cayon is more medium-long term. So if rain does not fall, there is very little we could do about the Cayon situation.
“There is something we can do about Lodge; we are working on the design of that. It involves a well that has been out of commission for a long time because of certain issues. We are trying to re-commission that well. It is going to take a while, It is not going to be immediate, a couple of weeks.”
