BWA identifies issues affecting water supply in the east

The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) says a combination of three issues is responsible for residents in eastern parishes experiencing outages and low pressure in recent days.

It explained in a statement on Monday that the supply to several communities across St John and St Joseph had been interrupted due to “low levels at the sources supplying these distribution networks, burst mains within the associated distribution systems, and some electrical supply interruptions outside of the BWA’s control”.

The BWA added that even after the problems are corrected, the distribution systems take time to replenish, which may cause customers to be affected by low water pressure or outages for prolonged periods.

The water company said it was concerned about the large number of burst pipes.

“In March and April of this year, BWA received over 1 200 reports of bursts each month, and given the frequency of the bursts and the fact that some are difficult to locate, crews have not been able to carry out all of the repairs in a timely manner,” it said.

“Repair teams are also operating with less than 20 per cent of the vehicles required and this has contributed to the issues currently being experienced. The Authority expects to augment its fleet within the next several weeks to assist with this issue.”

The BWA assured that its tankers will be deployed to assist residents in affected districts until normal service can be restored. (BT)