The Tribune

By Fay Simmons

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

A union leader yesterday confirmed a combination of increased demand and supply challenges forced the Water & Sewerage Corporation to implement conservation measures on New Providence for seven to ten days.

Montgomery Miller, president of the Water and Sewerage Management Union (WSMU), said: “We had some operational challenges with respect to reverse osmosis, so that means that we had a slightly compromised supply.  There was an increase in demand as well as a tightening up on supply. So, it was a combination of things happening at the same time.”

In a statement sent out last night, the Corporation said it had been experiencing “production challenges” last week and deployed conservation measures to rebuild supply. “For several consecutive days last week, we experienced water production challenges, which ended on Friday evening when we restored full production capacity,” it explained.

“As a result of our proactive conservation measures, impacts to our customers have been minimal. Although capacity has returned to normal, water conservation measures remain in effect to facilitate the rebuilding of our strategic potable water storage. Maintaining these reserves is crucial to meeting New Providence’s water demand, particularly during any future periods of extended water production challenges.”

A statement released on Friday advised consumers that high system demand, and operational challenges, were “critically impacting” water storage levels and reduced water pressure from 10pm until 5am nightly for the next seven to ten days would likely be experienced.

A subsequent Water & Sewerage Corporation statement explained that conservation measures are standard during “dry or drought conditions, to protect and stabilise our water supply”. Mr Miller yesterday said while drought conditions do affect the supply of ground water, the main issues for the shortage are the reduced supply and operational challenges.

“I wouldn’t focus too much on the drought aspect,” he added, “because the drought only has to do with limitations as far as abstraction from the ground water. The main issue is the higher demand and operational challenges. Most of [the water supply] is coming from reverse osmosis, and reverse osmosis has been suffering from reduced capacity because of the operational issues.”

Nikolette Elden, the Water & Sewerage Corporation’s spokesperson, explained that while New Providence is primarily supplied through reverse osmosis drought conditions can still affect the overall system use and operational efficiency.

“Our public advisory indicated that water conservation measures and protocols are standard practice, not only in The Bahamas but throughout the region, particularly during prolonged dry spells or drought seasons. While New Providence does rely significantly on SWRO (seawater reverse osmosis) systems, we also integrate groundwater resources, and dry conditions can still affect overall system usage and operational efficiency,” said Ms Elden.

“Moreover, the recent measures were not attributed solely to drought conditions. They were implemented in response to operational challenges that temporarily reduced our production capacity and high demand on the system, which can spike during warmer, drier periods.

“Once production returned to full capacity, we kept conservation measures in place to help rebuild strategic water reserves and ensure reliability against any future disruptions, whether from operational issues or demand fluctuations.”