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“A series of pump outages and failures” is responsible for the current water woes in certain communities on St. Croix. That’s the word from the Water and Power Authority’s Chief Operating Officer Noel Hodge, who addressed the issue during Tuesday afternoon’s briefing from Government House.
Mr. Hodge said that production facilities on St. Croix were operating at full capacity, and that water storage was “more than adequate”, but that the “main island communities and the western communities” were suffering due to WAPA’s difficulties in pumping water across to them.
Some of those communities, Mr. Hodge said, were Clifton Hill, Bethlehem, Profit, Williams Delight, Anna’s Rest, Campo Rico and parts of Frederiksted.
WAPA, “working with local business partners” according to Mr. Hodge, has sourced a pump that will serve as a “temporary solution”. Work to install the pump was already underway, and would continue into Wednesday. Affected communities should start seeing improvements within two to three days, the WAPA COO said.
A longer term solution would be on hand by next week - parts to service failing pumps. As soon as they arrive on island, Mr. Hodge said, installations would begin.
Meanwhile, WAPA is “working closely with the Department of Education,” Hodge said, with crews “making adjustments to the system to prioritize our schools” with the aim of maintaining in-person learning through the water crunch. Similar efforts were being made with the VI Housing Authority, Mr. Hodge disclosed.
A more permanent solution to water issues on St. Croix is the billion-dollar project to replace the island’s water distribution system. This would, according to Mr. Hodge, bring “our water infrastructure up to industry standards over the next…5 to 10 years” after which “basically the whole system will be replaced”.
While information about water issues are being disseminated through local radio programs and other media platforms, Mr. Hodge urged those who wish to receive real time alerts from WAPA to sign up with their Everbridge app.
