Recent water shortages were the result of producers cleaning their
systems, and the issue was being addressed as of last Friday, March 27, with teams at work restoring service to residents of the eastern end of Tortola as the start of the 24- hour curfew loomed, according to Transportation, Works and Utilities Minister Kye Rymer.
“As a territory, we are a few hours from going into home quarantine and it is required that all necessary works or issues that would negatively affect us are addressed,” Mr. Rymer said in a Friday, March 27 statement.
“We are aware that the infrastructure is weak, and we are making headway in correcting those issues.”
Some residents confirmed on Tuesday that water was back on, though intermittently for some. Greenland resident Dawne Weekes said she had no water starting last Thursday, but it soon returned.
“It returned the following day and been on ever since,” she said, adding that she got a chance to fill buckets.
However, two other customers in Greenland reported as of Tuesday that water had returned but was intermittent.
“It has changed from [an] ‘all hide’ to hide and seek,” one wrote in response to a question from the Beacon.
Explanation
According to the minister, water producers were cleaning systems and well fields, leading to disruptions in Tortola’s eastern end for more than 24 hours.
“Seven Seas finalised its cleaning a few weeks ago, Ocean Conversion executed its cleaning yesterday and was not producing water (hence one of the reasons there was low water pressure or no water on the eastern end of the island), and Aqua Design is set to carry out their cleaning in the Cappoons Bay area, which will probably contribute to some water disruption,” he said Friday.
Additionally, he warned customers in Carrot Bay and Minton Hill, Virgin Gorda that they would experience outages on Monday and Tuesday of last week.
Water delivery
Earlier this month, Cabinet decided to suspend charges for residential water to residences for 30 days, effective March 19, and to offer water delivery to areas affected by interruptions in the water distribution network for the same 30 days.
As of Friday, March 27, 15 trips had been scheduled to deliver water
to customers in Cane Garden Bay, West End and Sea Cows Bay, Mr. Rymer said.
“There are other areas that experience difficulty and we can assure you that we are working steadily to either get service to you or improve your service,” Mr. Rymer said on Friday, March 27.
The Jost Van Dyke water plan that has been “experiencing some difficulties” was also addressed, Mr. Rymer said Friday, confirming that a team was on the island reviewing pumps and making repairs.