Piped water to be restored on JVD by month-end

Government-issued potable water on Jost Van Dyke could be restored to residents’ pipelines in the next few days, Works Minister Mark Vanterpool has said.

He said ‘heavy construction’ works on the new reservoir ended in mid-December.

“The final connections are now being done and should be completed by the end of this month,” Vanterpool said.

He said works left to be done include “re-routing the pumping main [pipeline] from the temporary storage facility to the new reservoir, construction of protective manholes for new valves, the upgrading and installing of a power supply to one of the two water pumps, and repairing a part of the main distribution water main [pipeline].”

The minister gave that update while responding to questions by the Representative of the Second District where Jost Van Dyke is located, Melvin ‘Mitch’ Turnbull.

Residents of that island have been on a ‘limited’ water supply since the 2017 hurricanes when their sole reservoir was destroyed. This limited supply of water is being distributed to residents from private storage facilities belonging to Soren Blak, a resident on the island.

Vanterpool took the opportunity to express gratitude to Blak and further said: “I would also like to thank the residents of Jost Van Dyke for their patience while the new reservoir and the enabling works are being completed.”

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be-commissioned public reservoir will be able to store up to 28 feet of water. A territory-wide reservoir repair and restoration project is underway through a joint partnership between the BVI and the United Kingdom.