Castries, 5 January, 2024 – The Water and Sewerage Company Inc. (WASCO) effected an emergency shutdown of the northern section of the network on Monday 18th December, 2023. Suspension of the water supply was necessary to facilitate the repair of damages on the raw water line from the John Compton Dam to the Theobalds Treatment Plant in Ciceron. The undertaking was successfully completed, with service being restored to customers by the morning of Wednesday 20th December, 2023. To date, WASCO has reinstated the supply of water to approximately 98% of consumers who were affected by the northern shutdown.
During the restoration period, WASCO technicians worked tirelessly to ensure that customers received an uninterrupted supply of water throughout the Christmas Season. Notwithstanding WASCO’s efforts, the full restoration of supply to all customers was delayed due in part to increased economic activity including stayover arrivals, cruise ship visitors and returning nationals during the period. Consequent upon WASCO’s continuous strides for greater efficiencies, our technical assessment has revealed issues in areas at the extreme end of the supply network which are currently being addressed. In the interim, WASCO has activated its relief protocol by way of its water trucking service to address the short-term urgent needs of customers in the affected locations.
To mitigate reoccurrence of this situation, WASCO has awarded a Caribbean Development Bank funded consultancy to design and upgrade 5 km of the raw water line from Millet to Vanard. The consultancy is expected to be completed by April 2024. It is expected that upon completion of the installation of the new raw water line water losses will be significantly reduced. Additionally, the implementation of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition System (SCADA – {SCA-DA}) will allow WASCO to become more proactive in resolving issues by monitoring the network, identifying faults, and rectifying these matters either remotely or on-site in a timelier manner.
WASCO takes this opportunity to thank the public for their patience, cooperation and to inform them of its ongoing effort to improve the water service. There will be planned network shutdowns through the year to address deficiencies on the current network. To diminish the impact of these planned interruptions WASCO will make every effort to provide adequate notice to the public.
We encourage the public to promptly report any supply interruptions and/or localized faults, to our control room at the following numbers: 457-3958, 457-3960 or 451-9812. Additionally, reports can be made via WhatsApp Messenger by forwarding contact information and location to 482-0052.
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