BVI : The water situation in the BVI could worsen for the Water and Sewerage Department and residents if the dry season continues at its current level.
Acting Deputy Director of the Water and Sewerage Department Bernard Grant says as of Monday this week, the department realized that the supply of water it was receiving for the Valley in Virgin Gorda is not keeping up with the present demand.
Grant said to deal with this situation, the department had to close the water supply temporarily in order for the plant to accumulate more water.
He explained: “I have spoken with the management of the water plant and they assured me that they will correct the situation as of next week, so to be on the safe side we have given them two weeks in order to produce a bit more water to us. They have flown in the part already from their other supplier and they will have production increase within a week they said.”
Grant said there isn’t anything wrong with the plant but he said “what seems to be happening is that around this time of the year, being the dry season, the demand is above normal so therefore we have to take extra measures in order to curtail that situation or that pending situation”.
He said this problem only relates to the Valley in Virgin Gorda, however, he said, “even though the Valley is being affected, the management team already decided that they will improve the situation in the North Sound area as well”. Grant said in Virgin Gorda there are two main supplies – one in North Sound and the other in the Valley, but he noted that the department is taking precautions both ways even though the problem is not affecting North Sound at this time.
Grant added that the department anticipates that residents in other areas will be affected by water problems because of the dry season. He said, especially being at the end of the school year, students will be at home and compounded with the dry season, they expect that the demands will increase tremendously.
He said when this situation develops it will be very difficult to deal with everything at the same time with the limited resources at its disposal. However, he said, “we will initially may have to ration the water, however the Ridge Road at this point, what we have decided to do, instead of supplying the whole of the Ridge Road seven days a week, we decide we will do it three to four days a week and that will give us enough time to increase the storage capacity that we can ensure, especially during the festival season coming up that we have enough water to go around”
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