Water company explains future plans
Belize City residents endured the better part of another day without water as rationing continued due to transmission problems at the plant near Double Run. With problems expected to continue intermittently for at least the next few months, News 5’s Ann-Marie Williams delved deeper into the situation at Belize Water Services.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
Ever since Belize Water Services bought out the Water and Sewerage Authority they’ve been met with a barrage of criticisms, ranging from layoffs to water shortages. Chief executive officer, Peter Wrench, says it was only a matter of time for the city’s water problem to escalate.
Peter Wrench, CEO, Belize Water Services Ltd.
“This problem started in 1991; it was first identified that more water was required for Belize. In 1996 the funds were approved, so what we have here is a project that started about four years behind schedule. That was last August when it started and you’ll remember last September there was a hurricane. The area where I’m standing now, it was completely flooded.”
The unexpected flooding caused a delay in the thirty-five million dollar project, which promises to double the size of the water treatment plant at Double Run. The facility at mile seventeen on the Northern Highway is where the city’s water is treated and stored. The expansion project employs nearly eighty workers.
Peter Wrench
“We’re now within two or three months from the while project being completed. But the stage we’re in now as I said earlier, is this tricky phase where we’re connecting the old system and the new system together and it’s these connections which cause interruptions to supply and the outages that people have been experiencing.”
And for those of you who have been experiencing low pressure or no pressure, Wrench says there’s not much that can be done. However, he says this new station, which is double the size of the old one, will take sufficient water to the clarifier for use.
Peter Wrench
“What is here now is enough to supply another twenty-six thousand connections, which will really supply Belize for the foreseeable future. The works here are actually designed so if expansion goes faster or in twenty years time, we will still be here. I might not be, but Belize Water Services will still be here and there is space in the design to add on extra modules to supply that demand.
Ann-Marie Williams
“When B.W.S. took over an ailing Water and Sewerage Authority, Belizeans were bound to feel some pain…growing pains that is, according to Wrench. He sites a growing population in the city and an old water system that had to accommodate new expansion. However, he says give him four months tops and Belizeans will enjoy adequate water supply.”
Peter Wrench
“It will all end in October. Until then it’s going to be a tough time. It’s going to be a tough time for all of us because there’s not enough water here to satisfy demand and the pipelines between here and the city are too small to take the water through there.”
The shortage of water is not the only problem confronting the new private company. Employees are being laid off, which, according to Wrench is an inevitable consequence of taking over an overstaffed, unproductive public company.
Peter Wrench
“It’s a unpleasant process, making people redundant. Nobody likes it and there is no easy way to do it. You can cut it fast and people don’t like it, you can cut it slowly and people get worried about it. We’ve had five or six meetings with the unions and we’ve talked through it with them very step of the way so that we can make it as easy for the people who are leaving as possible. The private sector can introduce a bit of creativity, they can move a bit faster, they can perhaps cut corners where a government isn’t allowed to. All that we’re doing here is trying to up the pace a bit and produce and organisation that everyone can work to their capacity.”
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
In response to public complaints, B.W.S. has improved its system of warning consumers about impending shortages. Today, as the company predicted, water pressure returned to most pipes early in the evening.
