Fort James RO Plant has brought no ease to water-strapped community since Election Day, resident says

Residents in a nearby community are complaining about the lack of pipe-borne, for three consecutive days, in spite of the erection of a Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant in the Fort James area.

The RO Plant was completed late last year and was constructed to ensure that residents in Yorks, Villa, Point and neighbouring communities have water on a regular basis.

When the plant was first opened, residents say, they were receiving water daily, in some instances for 24 hours a day.

However, a woman says that, since the General Election has passed, it has been back to the old days of water suppression on a regular basis.

She has been recycling water for washing dishes, and even making her supply do double duty for cooking, especially when boiling vegetables, she says.

In this day and age, she says, given that water is being drawn from the sea, the pipes should be running on a regular basis. She should not have to boil pasta and then use the same water to boil potatoes, she complains.

The woman also says she does not get water on a constant basis; yet, her water bill is in the region of $200 a month and she is wondering how this could be possible.

According to her, switching the utilities portfolio from Sir Robin Yearwood to Melford Nicholas does not make much of a difference, since the water situation seems to have gotten worse.

There was a fire in Yorks Village on Thursday morning, February 23, which destroyed two houses and a grocery shop.  But residents could not have assisted in saving any of the properties due to the lack of water, the woman points out.

Meanwhile, the Cabinet Notes of this week say that additional spare parts for two off-line units at the Ffryes RO plant have arrived on island.

Reportedly, “the two units will cause the plant to process more potable water next week and alleviate the shortages being experienced by the southern parts of Antigua,” the Notes say.

In the Throne Speech presented on Monday, February 20, the Government promised that three million gallons of water per day will be provided by another RO plant to be installed in Bethesda.

However, says Opposition Leader Jamale Pringle, in spite of all these plants many residents are not getting water on a regular basis.

Pringle says that many of the broken lines need to be replaced in order to eliminate water wastage, and this would have been a priority for the United Progressive Party (UPP), had it been elected.

Meanwhile, UPP Chairman D. Gisele Isaac says it is shameful that the Gaston Browne Administration has been elected for a third time and, still, the water situation has not improved.