With a cold front approaching and the Titus still not operating at full capacity, the water shortage woes which began last November will continue throughout the weekend.
However, as early as “next week,” Cabinet is expected to send out an invitation for bids to construct a five million gallons reverse osmosis plant at Blue Hills, Minister of Works and Utilities, Bradley Roberts, confirmed on Thursday.
“The first phase of the reverse osmosis plant would be completed within six months after we sign this contract [with the selected bidder.] ” Mr Roberts stated.
The installation of a reverse osmosis plant at Blue Hills is expected to eliminate the need for barging water from Andros. The new plant, with a capability of converting five million gallons of salt water to fresh water daily, will come on stream fully in 2006. A similar plant, located at Windsor Field, processes two million gallons of fresh water daily.
Meanwhile, almost two weeks into the new year, Deputy General Manager of the Water & Sewerage Corporation, Godfrey Sherman, confirmed on Thursday that the Titus, one of two barges that ship water to the capital from Andros, is still not fully operational.
“We thought that the Titus would have been repaired, but this was not done. The engine had to be removed once again. We thought we would have been finished [with repairs] but now we are right back to the same situation.
“I can’t even make a reasonable projection of when the matter would be sorted out. I can only say that the problem would last for about the next week or so and then next week I would be able to say if the barge was repaired or not,” Mr Sherman said.
W&SC Deputy General Manager also pointed out that a cold front is expected to pass over The Bahamas sometime tonight and this could prevent the daily barging of water from Andros. “There may be slight weather delays and the barge will take longer to get to Andros. It will bring water, but it will not bring as much,” he said.
According to Mr Sherman, the Titus, which needs parts for its engine, is presently being tugged back and forth from the capital to Andros, and transports two-and-a-half million gallons of water to the capital every two days. The voyage takes some 30-36 hours. The operational barge, The Dolphin, brings in one-and-half million gallons of water daily.
The Titus has been experiencing mechanical problems since November. At the time, 50 per cent of the Corporation’s storage began to deplete rapidly and only 20 per cent was being shipped to the capital from Andros.
A statement issued to The Guardian from the Director of Blairwood Academy, Marianne Stein, outlined that the school continuously runs out of water due to existing water shortage problem. She noted that there were 65 students enrolled at the school and 12 adults, and there is no water to flush toilets.
“We have water service for maybe an hour in the morning, and then not until after 4 p.m., and we must fill up large containers to have water to flush the toilet,” said the school’s director. She added that employees and students cannot get to school on time, because of water shortages in the morning.
The water pressure in the capital is high between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. daily.
Tamara McKenzie, The Nassau Guardian
