BWA aims for weekend restoration of failed Hampton water system

By Sheria Brathwaite

Much of the southern half of Barbados will have to put up with a week of drastic water cuts as the Barbados Water Authority (BWA) battles to get one of its largest pumping stations back online. This weekend is the earliest that the Hampton Pumping Station could be working fully again, the BWA said Monday.

At a press briefing at the St Philip pumping station, BWA General Manager Keithroy Halliday said the repairs were intricate and barring any complications, the system should be on stream by late Friday.

“We’re targeting Friday,” he told reporters. “Even though we have worked it out that we should be able to aim for Friday – possibly Saturday – if we realise that we have to pause intermittently to make sure that the system is sufficiently replenished, and if it is that we encounter any difficulty . . . we will do so out of an abundance of caution . . . [but] if everything flows smoothly, the end of Friday is a good estimated time.” 

Over the weekend, work to repair a failed pump and other compromised pieces of equipment was paused to allow the more than 10 000 customers who are supplied from Hampton to store water.

Halliday said this was done so parents would be in a better position to prepare their wards for school and to ensure the schools in the Hampton catchment area had adequate storage of water.

Hampton serves much of St Philip and St Joseph, and several Christ Church communities including Atlantic Shores, Callenders, Chancery Lane, Ealing Park, Gibbons Boggs, Goodland, Inch Marlow, Sayes Court, Seaview, Silver Sands, St Christopher, Wilcox, Durants and surrounding areas.

About 20 to 30 tankers, carrying roughly 1 200 gallons of water each, are to be deployed in the most affected districts, with priority going toward the elderly and most vulnerable households.

Recognising that the disruption in supply would be an inconvenience, Halliday implored residents to store as much water as they could even if it meant venturing outside of their community.

Responding to complaints that water tanker drivers were bypassing homes in the affected districts, the general manager said the drivers were instructed to follow a particular route and that it was a great undertaking for them to travel back and forth to communities, making five trips or more.

BWA officials gave a brief timeline of Hampton’s failure: During an inspection in November 2023 on the upper deck, it was realised that support structures were in a state of disrepair; a plan was devised to change the equipment in February 2024 so as not to affect customers during the holidays; in mid-December one of the pumps failed.

The officials also outlined the work to be done: About 20 workers, including engineers, electrical welders and mechanical fitters are tasked with removing and replacing the failed pump. The ageing support structures of the wellheads at the station require an upgrade. Temporary supports are to be erected so the substructures on the wellheads can be changed. New beams at the top of the wellheads will be fabricated to support the pumps. The workers also have to remove a concrete structure on the platform above the 130-foot well to replace the beams and re-erect the concrete structure.

The BWA said it already had most of the equipment to change out the compromised parts. The authority said it only had to buy new beams, putting the overall cost of the repairs at $130 000 to $150 000.

Halliday also told reporters of the risky repairs. He said the work was “dangerous to the extent that we are dealing with a compromised platform or substructure that has to be replaced”. 

“It has to be done in stages where we’re going to have to remove pumps, remove the substructure, reintroduce some of the pumps to make sure that we can at least have interim supply on a continued basis over the next several days, all the while trying to change all elements of the substructure,” he added.

However, he also warned that given the sheer size of the Hampton system, it would replenish slowly, hinting that it may take some more time for the water supply from Hampton to return to normal. (SZB)