St. Peter’s water situation nearing resolution, says Water Engineer Cromwell Williams

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, October 4, 2022 (SKNIS) – Potable water has returned to the majority of households in the St. Peter’s area after a few days of interruption caused by a serious mechanical problem.
 
As of 10:00 am on Tuesday, October 4, water was restored to approximately 80 percent of consumers in the St. Peter’s area.
 
Prime Minister the Honourable Dr. Terrance Drew, the Parliamentary Representative for the St. Peter’s area, visited the site where employees of the Water Services Department are currently hard at work to bring resolution to the problem. Accompanied by Press Secretary Mrs. Adelcia Connor-Ferlance, Dr. Drew was met on site by Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Infrastructure, Daryll Lloyd and Water Engineer, Mr. Cromwell Williams.
 
Giving an update on the situation, Mr. Williams said that the problem started after the well that supplies the St. Peter’s area encountered a mechanical problem.
 
He said, “We went in on Saturday (October 01) and we replaced the pump in the well. The pump worked overnight Saturday and unfortunately on Sunday the pump developed a problem again and so we had to go back in on Monday (October 03) morning to restore and put in a new pump. As of yesterday, Monday at about 6:00 pm, we would have completed the work and water would have been restored to the area.”
 
“Unfortunately, water is not like electricity. You don’t just put it online and everybody gets it instantly. So, once you put on the pump and start pumping water all the pipes in the entire area have to be filled up and water goes into the reservoir and then it feeds back out by gravity to the population,” said Mr. Williams.
 
The water engineer indicated that as of Tuesday morning, all three tanks that supply the St. Peter’s area have water.
 
He added, “The system is still building up. We estimate about 80 percent of the area has water. There is one particular area, the White House area, where we are currently [and] what we now realise is that we have what you call an air block where the air is actually in the pipe and is preventing the water from flowing freely to this area. We are here in our numbers this morning and we are going to do our best to get that air out of the line so that the lines in this area can be recharged.”
 
Barring any new development, Mr. Williams said they are hopeful that the water situation in St. Peter’s would be fully resolved by end of day, today, Tuesday, October 4, 2022.

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