The Tribune

BY ANNELIA NIXON

Tribune Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

An Eleuthera restaurant owner yesterday revealed that the island’s water supply woes forced him to close for four days.

The Tarpum Bay-based proprietor, and another restaurant owner, said hygiene in the workplace has been unachievable as that settlement and Rock Sound experienced a multi-day water interruption due to repairs at the reverse osmosis (RO) plant that supplies the area. 

One said they could not use the kitchen or the bathroom during the outage, adding: “Without water, you really can't accommodate people. So when the water's off, you don't have bathrooms. You can't use your kitchen.

“Hygiene is your most primary important situation, so you really can't cook, clean or do anything without water to accommodate people. It goes against environmental health standards. It goes against what is required as restaurants and food providers. We can't meet the requirements the Government has put on us without water and hygiene.

“The guys who work with Water and Sewerage, I'm sure they're doing what they can because they are people in our community as well. It's not a manpower issue as far as the guys that are here. It’s infrastructure issues.”

The other restaurant owner said water supply in the area had been interrupted for four days, resulting in their restaurant having to close to the public.

“There are 365 days in a year. Last year alone, our power was off at least 110 days. That's just the power. This year, so far, water has been off. Last week it was off four days straight. I don't know what the problem is, but in those days, we had to close. We had to close our doors,” they said.

“If someone goes in your bathroom and goes number two, you can’t flush the toilet. That’s number one. You can’t clean the meat. We didn’t have water for days.” 

The Water & Sewerage Corporation last Tuesday issued a notice alerting residents in Rock Sound and Tarpum Bay to expect “little too no water pressure beginning at 1.30pm” as the reverse osmosis plant underwent repairs. Another notice was sent out later that night, stating water would be interrupted again beginning at 10pm due to ongoing repairs.

The repairs extended into the next day as a Water & Sewerage Corporation employee updated person that Rock Sound, “due to a delay production time, has been pushed back to 2pm”. Later that evening, they informed residents hat repairs had been completed and following, the testing phase, the Corporation would need about two extra hours to build storage before distribution could begin. 

The water interruption extended a further day due to “some failures”. A notice issued by the Water & Sewerage Corporation stated an additional part was being sourced and expedited for the Tarpum Bay reverse osmosis plant, while and water tankering was being co-ordinated to help impacted customers.

The Water & Sewerage Corporation on Friday issued another notice stating North Eleuthera, Harbour Island and mainland Eleuthera would experience a service disruption between 10pm and 5.30am the following day, which was “necessary to replenish depleted storage levels”,.

A member of the WhatsApp group where the notice was published noted that some persons had not had water in days, local businesses were unable to operate and children were unable to attend school. Another member messaged: “Water is a necessity not something we want. This is hilarious.” Other members expressed their frustration with the situation and the constant water supply interruptions.