Despite its initial difficulties in finding sufficient water underground to supply its planned Paraquita Bay desalination plant, Biwater is progressing with its efforts to upgrade the territory’s capacity to produce drinking water and treat wastewater, a company official said Tuesday.
Richard Smith, Biwater’s Virgin Islands project director, said since the United Kingdom-based firm’s contract became effective in July 2011, workers have focused on building and installing equipment at the desalination plant and laying about 10,000 feet of pipe from the plant to the reservoir on Sabbath Hill.
The plant is about 70 percent complete, Mr. Smith said, adding that Cabinet officials recently approved the company’s request for access to land so that a 2,000-foot-long underground pipeline can be constructed to draw seawater from Paraquita Bay to the plant.
Once environmental studies of the route are complete and the VI Planning Authority gives its approval, Biwater will have eight months to get the desalination plant operable, he said, citing the firm’s contract.
See the Jan. 31, 2013 edition for full coverage.
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