Residents question water outages, tanker response

Residents at Sherbourne getting water. (Photo by Lourianne Graham) A much-needed pump replacement and an electrical issue left some residents in St George, St John and St Philip without water for up to a week, but some are questioning why they are part of the affected water system and why water tankers took so long to reach them. Barbados TODAY visited central and south-eastern districts earlier this week to investigate the reported outages. In Sweet Vale, St George, Adrian Brewster said the village was without water for four days, while another resident just up the hill had been without water for up to a month. “It seems the pressure doesn’t go up the hill, they have to come down [to the standpipe] to collect water, and that’s going on about a month or two now.” He said the situation with his neighbour was concerning because he has animals and only in the early hours of the morning, around 3 a.m., are he and his family able to bathe and fill water containers. “If he wait ’til after five o’clock he can’t get no water come up here, so when everybody [is sleeping] pressure will get up there.” You Might Be Interested In Brewster said he saw a water truck two days after the pipes ran dry, but only once. Another resident said, “The night time, we get water about 10 o’clock in the night time. My aunt didn’t go to work for the last few days because she didn’t get water. To get water, she had to go to Bayley Alley for water to bathe to go to work. It seems like their water was on.” Water tank at Baley Alley.(LG) Brewster, who lives next to a standpipe, said it appeared to only work for a few hours at a time. “I time it, but every three hours, you see water there or sometimes you get no water,” he said, with a mocking laugh. He said the water did return late Sunday, but the pressure was still low. “It running, but it slow. Even yesterday it didn’t come on; that water come on the evening around six o’clock.” Brewster, who has lived in the area for years, said it was only recently that they had started experiencing water issues. “About ten years, that pipe never used to go off, even if the water do go off, the standpipe is on.” He said the problem started after the government changed some pipes, but questioned why they were part of the Bowmanston water system when they are located close to the Golden Ridge Pumping Station. The new water pump to be installed at Bowmanston Pumping station. (LG) “I can’t understand why it come from Bowmanston but I personally believe our water should come from Golden Ridge.” The Golden Ridge reservoir is served by water pumped from the large aquifer at Bowmanston. Another Sweet Bottom resident said she was not aware of the water outage, as she had a water tank installed several years ago owing to an inconsistent water supply. “I have an elderly here and when it off you never used to see the water truck, you had to call a friend to get water.” She too was confused about the water reserves, saying she understood that one part of Sweet Bottom was supplied by the Bowmanston system while another part was fed by Golden Ridge. A resident of Bayley Alley, Jeremy, said they too had been without water for four days after finally getting a water connection into the community. He said residents had gone for years without a water supply, but water tanks had been installed in the area to serve the community of about 50 households. “I have seen a water tanker for the past four days, but because we at the bottom of the hill we still have some water but the pressure is not alot.” Over in Sherbourne, St John, the Shorey family said they too had been plagued by water outages, seeing a water truck only once around midday. “Since Thursday, a water tanker came yesterday around midday; that’s the first time since the water went off,” a family member said. The family has its own water tank, which they use to store water as they have recently experienced water issues often. In Four Roads, a resident said he too had been without water for almost a week, but they had not seen a water truck. One resident told Barbados TODAY that he was informed an electrical issue and a malfunctioning pump were responsible for the outage. A statement from the Barbados Water Authority on Monday evening at 5:46 revealed that the St John Pumping Station was back online after a leaking joint was discovered, requiring repairs to the main. Barbados TODAY also learned that a new pump had to be installed to allow water to flow back to residents’ homes. In a further update on Wednesday, the BWA said the technical difficulties affecting the St John facility had been resolved. The authority said the water supply was expected to return to normal gradually as the system recovered, with customers in affected areas of St John, St George and St Philip seeing a progressive restoration of their supply. The BWA apologised for the disruption and thanked customers for their patience and understanding. (LG)