The government says potable water production in Antigua and Barbuda is at a historic high, but officials continue to flag storage and distribution as ongoing challenges despite the commissioning of new infrastructure.
Addressing questions at Thursday’s post-Cabinet media briefing, Director General of Communications in the Prime Minister’s Office Maurice Merchant said Cabinet welcomed the official commissioning of the newest reverse osmosis plant at Barnacle Point.
“The Cabinet was very happy to learn that the plant will be officially commissioned tomorrow as it is anticipated that it will significantly improve the production of water in Antigua and Barbuda,” Merchant said.
He said production levels have reached unprecedented levels nationally.
“If you look at the historical figures, you would note that never before in the history of Antigua and Barbuda has so much water been produced,” Merchant said.
However, he said Cabinet remains concerned about storage capacity and distribution inefficiencies.
“There is an issue of storage and there is an issue of distribution,” Merchant said, pointing to aging infrastructure and leakage as persistent problems.
Merchant said efforts are ongoing to replace outdated pipelines as part of broader improvements to the distribution network.
“APUA has been attempting to improve on its distribution system with the replacement of all the aged pipes, which creates concern, lots of leakages for APUA,” he said.
He said Cabinet believes greater oversight is needed to resolve remaining issues and ensure water reaches consumers consistently.
“These are two areas that the Cabinet believes need improved oversight and need to be addressed to get the distribution of water to the citizens of Antigua and Barbuda to a level where everyone will be comfortable,” Merchant said.
Merchant said while progress has been made in production, challenges remain, and Cabinet continues to monitor the situation.
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It is time this problem of leakage and distribution solved.12 years ago Granny could not bathe and a magic fix was promised within 14 days. Granny still cannot Bathe and not only Granny.I spent 11 days in St. Phillip South during the Christmas season and only one day we had Running water. I think the people in that area should be given a discount on their monthly Bill.
@Visitor did you mention St. Phillip’s South? 😇Even water distribution is used as a political weapon. St. Phillip’s South is not an ABLP stronghold seat. Both Potworks and Collin’s Dams are in the area. Get the drift, water a human necessity is politicized in Our nation. Sad But True.
That is false information
It is good that the production of water is increasing. This is necessary. Also good that the Government acknowledges that storage and distribution remains a problem. However replacing leaking pipes is only part of the solution. The storage and distribution network was designed decades ago. It was not and cannot accommodate the production system that has evolved based mainly on desalination. The Government needs to engage water engineering experts who are capable of applying modern engineering solutions to fixing this problem once and for all. The technical staff at APUA are too busy fighting fires and may not have the training to analyse and fix the storage and distribution problem.
@Abena
The writer is correct.
ABLP need to step back and roll.
Potable water is at a historic high in the minds of antiguan and barbudans today, because the ALP government can’t provide it because of lack of funds been prioritized for the people care, but funds is founded for one nation concert and alpha Nero and paying lawyer for Gaston criminal matter in the USA.
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