BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – WITH some parts of St. Kitts still experiencing water shortage, consumers are being reminded of the need to employ conservatory measures in this life-saving element.
Speaking in Parliament yesterday (Jul. 28), Minister with responsibility for Utilities, the Hon. Ian Liburd provided an update on the issue which the island has been dealing with for the past couple of months.
Extracted from surface and ground sources, St. Kitts has been experiencing a shortage of water owing to the significantly below average rainfall recorded over the past months.
Minister Liburd said the recent fire that occurred on the south-eastern side of the Kim Collins Highway compounded the water shortage problem in specific areas.
“We do have a particular situation in the area of Basseterre. To be specific, in the Basseterre Valley area where some 2.5 million gallons are produced daily that supply our residents in Bird Rock, Frigate Bay and Half Moon Bay and so on…”
He advised that the fire “affected the electricity supply and pump houses which help to distribute the water to the different areas”, and the Frigate Bay, Half Moon, South East Peninsula areas were the most affected.
Notwithstanding, the Minister indicated that work is being carried out by teams from the St. Kitts Electricity Company Ltd. (SKELEC) to rectify that situation.
As it stands, he said customers are experiencing either low pressure or interruptions in their water supply during the peak hours of 6-9 a.m. and 5-8 p.m. However, consideration is being given to rationing the supply between the hours of 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. to ensure that the demand during the peak hours could be met.
Minister Liburd’s appeal for all to conserve water has been echoed on the airwaves and plastered across the websites of media houses in the twin-island Federation.
