Water restored after heavy flooding

Three and a half weeks after heavy floods caused extensive damage to the Central Water and Sewage Authority’s (CWSA) Perseverance and Jennings Water systems, much progress has been achieved in restoring both systems.{{more}}

CEO of the CWSA Garth Saunders is reporting that construction and new pipeline installation work on both systems is now almost 100 percent complete, and consumers in the Georgetown, Mt. Bentick areas who are supplied from the Perseverance system started receiving water in their homes on May 1.

Water supply from the Jennings system that also experienced extensive loss of pipes and pipe supports was restored on Tuesday, May 3. Saunders had praises for his entire technical team led by Engineering Manager Brian DaSilva.

“The relatively short restoration period came as a result of the competence and wonderful attitude of the staff who never seemed daunted, despite the obvious challenges and the prospect of long hours of work in rugged terrain,” said Saunders to SEARCHLIGHT.

During the restoration period the CWSA’s Customer Care Department led by Manager Phillip Dalrymple was activated to ensure that residents in the affected areas received water via the CWSA’s newly acquired water truck.

Arrangements were also made to install water tanks in strategic locations providing a ready source for residents who could access these areas.

Several private sector firms, including Franco, LIME, Digicel, CK Greaves, Gibson Construction, also assisted in the distribution of water.

Saunders also reported that the Montreal system was also used to supply areas as far North as Byrea, and along with the re-commissioning of the old Perseverance system helped to reduce the inconvenience to many residents.

Although all the costs of this short to medium-term restoration have not yet been captured, the CWSA anticipates the value of the long-term fix to exceed $1.5 million. This includes pipeline re-routing, increased supports, and repairs to treatment plant facilities, access roads and bridges.

Saunders also indicated that more attention will now be paid to improving pipeline protection in areas that are susceptible to damage, including river crossings. He indicated that on April 11, an average of 11 inches of rain was recorded at the CWSA’s rain stations at the Rabacca, Perseverance and Jennings valleys. Saunders pointed out that these stations are situated only one-third the way up the Morne Garu mountain and proffered that more rain actually fell at the higher elevations.

Saunders added that “It is a rare, unheard of occurrence to have this kind of rainfall intensity in any season, much less in the middle of what is usually the dry season.”

“A normal heavy rainfall event produces two to four inches of rain in a 24-hour period; 11 inches in Morne Garu on April 11, compared with only three inches at E.T. Joshua demonstrates the magnitude of the event,” Saunders explained.

Saunders was not surprised that extensive flooding occurred since, according to him, the existing water channels simply did not have the capacity to channel that volume of water safely to the coast.

This was made worse by the already saturated soils from what has been a very wet year thus far and rainfall that would normally have infiltrated the ground was quickly transformed to runoff, Saunders explained.

Public Relations and Marketing Manager Joan Ryan reminded residents that the traditional rainy season was just around the corner and that there was no guarantee that the CWSA would not suffer further damage. She encouraged residents to invest in storage tanks to minimize the personal inconvenience that could result from periodic outages.

Ryan also explained that although the systems have been restored, some broken distribution pipes and muddy water will be experienced, especially in the flat areas of Georgetown, and this will gradually improve as consumers run off their individual taps. In this regard, Ryan also indicated that management will be making allowances for any excessive consumption on the parts of affected residents in CWSA’s next round of billing.