Aqua Design water plant
to be used as a standby
PHILIPSBURG--Instead of dismantling the Aqua Design water plant in Lowlands, the possibility of upgrading and keeping it as a standby for future water emergencies is under consideration by government.
Commissioner Roy Marlin told the press that the plant would continue producing 900 cubic metres of water a day until January 31, by which time the Air-Fin Plant would be fully up and running.
Government advisors are exploring the idea of keeping the Aqua Design plant as a backup, especially considering the water shortage residents and businesses have been facing over the past months.
In the meantime, water is still being bought from the French side to supplement the shortfall in production by Enerserve, a company that will be replaced by Air-Fin when it takes over the island’s water production at the end of the month.
Residents with cistern were elated by the recent heavy rains because their cisterns filled up to give them an alternative supply of water to mitigate shortages.
Residents in Mary’s Fancy struggled with little or no water coming through their taps for about five days. Some water supply was restored Wednesday. But this had residents wondering what other district or neighbourhood now had to cope without water.
The island’s water shortage could be traced to a power outage that shut down the water production plant for several hours in November. Nearly empty water tanks were drained by residents in that period and when the plant became operational again the demand for water was so great there was no surplus to be pumped into the tanks. Compounding the problem was little or no rainfall in November that led to dry cisterns.
