‘OUT OF OUR CONTROL’: Water plant chief laments Eleuthera power problems

GOVERNOR’S HARBOUR, ELEUTHERA — A manager of a water plant operator in Eleuthera says frequent power outages on the island are solely to blame for the inconsistent water supply. 

The Water & Sewerage Corporation advised this week that a recent reduction in water production in Central Eleuthera was because of electrical issues. 

WSC said the electrical power supply to the desalination plant in Governors Harbour (Naval Base) was lost for a period of time during the evening of August 4, 2022.

Water woes have plagued Eleuthera in recent years. 

Gaddy Senatus, a field manager for Suez Water Technologies & Solutions, said yesterday the problem is out of his company’s control. 

“The biggest challenge in Eleuthera is power, the frequent outages.” he said.

“The issue is, persons will say, they will let you know, there’s so many surges that’s happening. Every time you have a surge, everything works off of power, so there’s a surge, the power is out, the system trips. For it to be water, that’s a major challenge, that’s just a major challenge in Eleuthera.”

Yesterday, water was reportedly off from Savannah Sound to Gregory Town. 

“If you see last week they posted that they had a major issue with their generators or whatever and parts were off,” Senatus said. “That in itself, if you having frequent power outages, and everything works by, the pump needs power, the system needs power, and you’re having these outages, it’s going to eventually cause shortages and burnouts and stuff like that. 

“I can’t speak for BPL. A lot of it is antiquated and a lot of stuff just needs to be replaced as it pertains to the power. 

Senatus said the company is coping with the problem as best as it can. 

He said: “Provision is being provided to address what you can address, what you can control so like I said the major thing is now do you try to solarize at least the water plant? Does the government allow it to be solarised so you can have reliable, constant power and then generators and make the power company the final source? 

He said he is aware of the perception that his company is to blame for the inconsistent water supply. 

“We see the articles, we see what happens, what is said, and obviously we’re not in the company of trying to point blame or fingers at anyone,” he said.

“You just let it speak for itself. If persons are not educated, they say oh they don’t want to give us no water or there is a major water shortage al the time, but all of it goes hand-in-hand.” 

“Imagine if persons are losing refrigerators, microwaves because of power surges so imagine motors and equipment.”

WSC Chairman Sylvanus Petty did not return a call seeking comment up to press time. 

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