Water Shortage Solutions

(ZIZ News) — The Water Department is taking steps to address the water shortage that communities have been experiencing this year.

Acting Manager of the Water Services Department, Denison Paul, said the rainfall has been at a record low for this time of year and it is affecting the surface water supplies.

“We have had, in the month of May, only about 0.2 inches of water. The average for the month of May is five inches and so the accumulated amount of water from January to December is only about 20 percent of what it usually is. So we are indeed in a dry spell. I have worked at the Water Services Department for 31 years now and I’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.

The worst affected areas, as outlined by Paul, include Cedar Grove, West Basseterre, and Saddlers.

He said Saddlers has been affected so badly that the department is installing pipes to feed the area from a well in Whitegate.

“It produces about 150 gallons a minute which is about 225,000 gallons of water per day. It supplies mainly Dieppe Bay, and Dieppe Bay only needs about 60,000 so a lot of that excess can now go to Saddlers,” he said.

The pipeline project costs about $200,000 and is expected to be completed by next week.