Cracked pipes responsible for dirty water

For the past week, hundreds of customers along the Northern Highway have endured less than clean water, the result, it turns out, of busted pipes. News Five understands that approximately eight hundred consumers in the Belama and Buttonwood Bay neighbourhoods have had to live with brown “gunky” water. Tonight, public relations officer Haydon Brown of Belize Water Services Limited says the company apologizes to its customers but promises the problem has been fixed.

Haydon Brown, P.R. Officer, B.W.S.L.
“Belize Water Services encountered over the last couple of days two main fractures on our two eight-inch mains that we had on the northern road that feeding our customers there. And due to this, along with the fact we had shut down the system to repair these mains, have resulted in this situation at hand, facing customers today.”

“When the system is shutdown, when it is restored before it is commissioned back to customers using the water there is a company policy that we first of all flush the main after the repairs are done because there are flushing mains installed on the main lines, and that?s where practical, otherwise the system is commissioned back to customers and some of the things that there are build-up over a period of years. This is common to all water systems throughout the world.”

Even though the water looked funny, at least there was water coming out the pipes. But according to Belize Water Services, with the country in the grip of one of the worst droughts in years, it is asking the public to use as little water as possible to avoid a serious crisis in the near future.

Haydon Brown
“I would like to say to customers, yes, that we need to look at conservation practices that all these water that we normally use, to water plants, and I know a lot of people wash their vehicles with treated water…some of this can be done with the water used already, like laundry water, a bucket of water. So yes, I’m encouraging customers that we have to look at conservation practices. Brushing your teeth, don?t leave the tap running, when you?re taking a shower turn off the water when you are not using it, because this is a point of time that is critical to Belize that we do look at conserving water.”